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Hi preparation. 




THE LIFE 

OV 




HIS EMINENCB 




CARDINAL WISEMAN. 


the 


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His Eminenoe, are requested to communicate, l^ letter, with 


His 




and 


BlAokefct, 18 Great ^Iborough Street, London. 





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THE 



LIFE OF SAINT TERESA 



OF THB OBDEB OF 



OUE LADY OF MOUNT CAEMEL. 



EDITED WITH A PBEFACE 



BT HIS GBAGB 



THE ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER 



LONDON: 
HUEST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
1865. 



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PREFACE. 



Among the accidental glories of the Blessed Mother of 
Crod, the amplest and the most conspicuous is the eleva- 
tion of her daughters and their participation in the service 
of her Divine Son. In the first Eve they fell under the 
bondage of this world. In the second Eve they are 
^levated to a supernatural life and grace. In the midst 
of the degradations of the old world there was a chosen 
line in which the types of Jesus and of Mary were con- 
tinually repeated. Noe^ Abraham^ Josue, and David, were 
ennobled by .the typical character they bore. Sarai, 
Bebecca, Judith, and Esther in like manner rose ^bove 
themselves, and were arrayed in a dignity derived from 
her whom they foreshowed. The shadow of the Mother 
of Jesus yet to come cast .ft b^uty upon them. But if 
this was so even before;' sbV T^ixie, how much more since 
her coming. Her example ajtidjh^ power with God have, 
by His grace, raised her :;ba^3ma|dJBL'to the knowledge and 
love of her Divine Son, a^d>'to a participation in the 
works of His kingdom. This is verified in the sanctity 
of Christian women, in their fortitude as martyrs, their 
^delity as confessors, their perfection as saints, tb^ir 
supernatural zeal as founders of religious Orders, and as 
ministers of the works of charity and mercy which cover 



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vi Preface. 

the face of the Church* There is, however, one other 
dignity which our Lord has put upon them in honour 
of His Blessed Mother. The Apostle legislates for the 
Church in saying, * I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to 
usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.'* 
Nevertheless our Lord has constituted His Blessed Mother 
Queen of Apostles, and has admitted certain of her 
daughters to a share in the illumination and office of 
Teachers and Beformers in His Church. To pass over 
many, we may name S. Catharine of Sienna, whose 
illuminated judgment gave counsel even to Pontiffs; 
S. Catharine of G-enoa, who has expounded the dogma 
of Purgatory, as theologians have said, with a special 
light of the Holy Q-host; and S. Teresa, who for her 
singular illumination and treatment of mystical theology, 
has been associated, by ^ graceful courtesy, with the 
Doctors of the Church. 

In the few words prefixed to this Life it is not possible, 
nor would it be right, to attempt an analysis or a synopsis 
of S. Teresa's works. What she has contributed to the 
teaching of the Church will appear in the Life itself. I 
cannot attempt to do more than fix upon one point in her 
writings, which is also the transcript of her own character. 
It gives the outline and the proportions of her own mind 
and of all her teaching, and can be expressed in no 
words better than her own: *We must fix our eyes on 
Christ, our only Good, and then we shall learn true 
humility. ... I said our imderstanding must be en-^ 
nobledy and then the knowledge of ourselves will not 
make it base and cowardly ;'f or, in other words, the know- 

* 1 Tim. n. 11. 

t The Interior Castle, c 11, p. 13, London, 1852. 



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Preface. vii 

ledge of God ennobles the soul. The true nobility of the 
soul is to know and love Crod : to be ignorant of God is 
its true baseness. The knowledge of God is the condition 
to conformity to Him^ and conformity to Him is the 
glory of the soul. The deformity of the soul is its own 
degradation, and ignorance is the chief cause of this de- 
formity. 

The life and writings of S. Teresa are a perpetual ex- 
position of the words of S. Paul to the Ephesians : 

That He would grant you, apcording to the riches of His 
glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might nnto the 
inward man« That Christ may dwell by &ith in your hearts : 
that being rooted and grounded in charity, yon may be able 
to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and 
length, and height, and depth. To know also the charity of 
Christ, which snrpasseth all knowledge, that you may be 
filled unto all the Alness of God.* 

Her single and unceasing aim was to unite nerself to 
God, through His Incarnation, with the most expanded 
vision of her intelligence illuminated by faith, and the 
most intense union of her will inflamed by charity. This 
appears from the outset of her life. In childhood she 
waa remarkable for her love of solitude, and her devotion 
to the Blessed Mother of God. At seven years old shfe 
used to pray to die that she might see God. She read 
in the lives of saints that the martyrs enter immediately 
upon the vision of God. She at once desired to be a 
martyr that she might immediately see God. For this 
purpose she resolved to escape from her father's house, 
and find her way into Africa, that she might be martyred 
by the Moors. She secretly left her home, but was ever- 
ts Ephes. liL 16-19. 



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viii Preface. 

taken at some distance beyond the walls of Avila, and 
brougbt back to her parents. When asked why she had 
run away^ she said, ^ I ran away because I want to see G-od^ 
imd I ipu^t die before I can see Him.' This is the key 
of her whole life, for. which the reader must be referred 
to the following pages. I must be content with touching 
a few points in her character as illustrating her great 
axiom, that the knowledge of God is the nobility of the 
soul. 

1. The first great perfection which runs throughout her 
^Dodnd and words is an intense perception and appreciation 
of the perfections of God. His Purity, Truth, Justice, 
Unchangeableness, Mercy, Compassion seem to penetrate 
and to encompass her mind. She speaks of them as the 
motive and measure of her own conduct, as people of the 
world speak of its rules and laws. This is the true de* 
termining cause of great and little characters. God who 
preated the soul in His own image and for Himself, has 
constituted Himself as the end of our existence, so that 
nothing but God or out of God is adequate and propor- 
tionate to the likeness which is in us. Everything but 
God, if loved without God, dwarfs, stunts, contracts the 
lioul. Not sin only, or the perversion of the creatures, but 
creatures in their purest and most perfect state and use, 
out of God and apart from God, narrow the soul to their 
own dimensions, and by narrowing it draw it down. God 
alone enlarges, and by enlarging elevates it; and by 
elevation, unfolds and perfects the soul with all the 
faculties of the intellect, all the affections of the heart, 
and all the powers of the will : and that because He is 
the proper end for which it was created. As ttie soul 
knows and is conformed to .God, it ascends towards its 



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'Preface. ix 

perfection ; and that perfection is not transient, as all out 
of God must be, but passes into the essence of the soul, 
and is eternaL The greatest man, according to the de- 
YeIo{»nents and powers of the natural order, is narrow 
compared with one who is thus elevated to intellectual and 
moral union with God. As they who inhabit mountains, 
aiMl lire in heights, and ^unong the grandeurs of nature, 
are developed not only in sinew and strength, but in every 
S^nse and instinct, and possess an elevation of character, 
a simplicity and a dignity above other races; so it is 
with those who converse with God, and walk to and fro 
among .the Divine perfections, inhabiting the high places, 
within the foliis of the Presence of God. Such was emi- 
nently S. Teresa. 

2. Another perfection of her character was a singular 
intensity in the perception of sin. She used to say, 
* Ev«ry sin we commit, we commit in God ; ' that is, not 
only in His sight and in His presence; but 'in Him we 
live and move and are ; ' our vital powers are sustained 
and fed by Him ; we could not subsist for a moment if the 
influences of His being were withdrawn ; and all the activity 
pf our soul with all its faculties and volitions, except so far 
as they deviate from His perfections, are sustained and em- 
powered by Him. When we sin, therefore, we turn His 
image and use His strength against Himself. For this 
reason she used to say, ' If I were to commit even a venial 
dn, willingly I should die.' The apprehension and appre- 
ciation, or rather the intellectual and spiritual vision of 
God ajad His perfections so profusely enveloped her whole 
beilig, that the thought of the least deflection from Him 
^nd His perfections, of the least soil or tarnish upon Qis 
image in her soid, filled her with horror. It is the percep- 



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X Preface. 

tion of God alone that confers upon the soul a due appre- 
hension and appreciation of sin. The dim eyes of the 
worldly Christian can see the coarse blots of mortal sin in 
its grosser kinds. It needs more light to perceive the mortal 
sins of the spirit, which being spiritual are purer, but 
therefore less visible though more Satanic Still more light 
again is necessary to discern the venial sins which grow 
over the soul like a mildew by deliberate acts of the 
will, much more to discover the half-indeliberate venial 
sins which settle upon the conscience like an impalpable 
dust. But S. Teresa's discernment went beyond these 
limits. She perceived the deviation and the inequalities 
of the soul as it was before its perfect original, and under 
the sight of the perfections of God. Describing the state 
of a soul in mortal sin, she said: *If any one should 
throw a black cloth over a crystal which is exposed to the 
sun, though the sun may shine upon it, it will have no 
effect on the crystal.' 

Again, she likens such a soul to ^ a tree planted in the 
devil ; what fruit can be produced ? ' I once heard a spiritual 
man say, ' that he wondered not so much at the sins which 
a person committed who was in mortal sin, as at what he 
did not commit.' * She was wont to say, speaking of the 
powers of evil : * I make no more account of the devils 
than so many flies.' * We receive greater harm from one 
venial sin than from all the powers of hell combined.' 
* In any matter, however slight, I would not tell a lie for 
the whole world.' 

Though we know from her confessions that she had 
never committed a mortal sin, yet her language about 
herself was like that of the Apostle. She was wont to 

* Interior Castle, e. 11, p. 8. 



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Preface. xi 

speak of her ^ sins/ her ^ great sins/ and to describe her- 
self as * wicked/ and * very wicked/ though the context 
shows that what in her sight was so hateful, in the eyes of 
the world would be imperceptible, and even in th^ judg- 
ment of her confessors did not amount to such a sin as to 
deprive her of the friendship of God. 

The cause of this penetrating sense and intuition of 
sin was an intense vision and realisation of the presence 
and perfections of God. She had travelled from the gray 
twilight of the daybreak into the morning light, from the 
morning light into the noontide, where all things from the 
mountains on the horizon to the motes in the sunbeam 
become visible. 

. 3. From this followed a third perfection, the annihilation 
of self, that is, the consciousness not only of her sinfulness 
as a transgressor, and of her un worthiness as a child of God, 
but of her nothingness as a creature in the sight of her 
Maker. The continual consciousness, it may be called, of 
the presence, the sanctity, the majesty of God, of the glory 
and perfection of the Sacred Humanity, of the sinless 
beauty and nearness of the Heavenly Court, of the state 6i 
souls expiating sin beyond the grave, caused her not only 
to see all the contrasts to light and piuity which were in her- 
self, but to conceive of herself as the patriarch did of old 
in the light of the presence of the Lord: *With the 
hearing of the ear I have heard thee, but now my eye 
seeth thee. Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance 
in dust and ashes.' * 

This she describes in the two following passages : — 

O Thou Lord of my soul ! how shall I be able to express 
with gratitude the favours Thou didst bestow upon me during 

* Job zlii. 5, 6« 



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xii Preface. 

these years P And how, at the very time I was offezidiBg 
Thee most, Thou didst in a short time dispose me for a most 
profound sorrow, that so I might enjoy Thy favours and con- 
solations. The truth is, O my King ! Thou didst adopt as 
one means, the most exquisite and sharp land of punishment 
which could be found for me : for Thou knowest well what 
would prove most afSicting to me, viz. that my sins should 
be punished by receiving favours from Thee ! It is no foolish 
thing which I utter, though one should not be surprised if I 
became foolish, when I recall the memory of my ingratitude 
and wickedness against Thee. But it was much more grievous 
for me to receive £a.vours, when at the same time I was com- 
mitting great faults, than it would have been {o have endured 
severe punishments. Hence, even one of those favours received 
seems capable of confounding and afflicting me, more than 
many corporal infirmities and other troubles united. As to 
the latter, I saw that I deserved them, and I thought I had 
made some satisfaction by them for my sins, though all indeed 
were but little, considering the multitude of my sins. But to 
see myself again receiving fresh favours, though I had made 
such a bad return for those I had received before, was a most 
terrible punishment for me : and I think it will be considered 
80 by all who have any knowledge or love of God. Hence 
flowed my tears and came my indignation, seeing what I 
found in myself, that I was still on the point of faUing again, 
though my desires and resolutions were then firm — ^I mean as 
long as the favours lasted. It is a great misfortune for a soul 
to be alone amidst such dangers ; and methinks if I knew any 
one to whom I could have spoken on these matters, it would 
have helped me from not falling again ; at least I should have 
been prevented through shame, even had I no shame in 
offending Gk>d. — Lifey pp. 46, 47. 

Again: — 

True it is, that I am both the weakest and most wicked of 
all creatures ; but yet I believe, that whoever will humble 
himself — ^though he be strong — and not trust in himself, but 
in one who has experience in these matters, will not lose any- 
thing. Respecting myself, I am able to say, that if our Lord 



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Preface. xiii 

had not discovered tills irath to me, and had not also given 
me means to treat, in a very femiliar manner, with persons 
who were given to mental prayer, I should still have gone 
over — ^faUing and rising — ^till I had fallen headlong into hell. 
For I had many friends who would have helped me to fiill ; 
but in endeavouring to rise up again, I found myself so much 
alone, that now I am astonished I did not always remain in a 
fallen state. I praise the mercy of Gt)d, for He alone it was 
who gave me a helping hand : may He be praised for ever 
and ever. Amen. — Ihid, pp. 48, 49. 

This vision of Crod, and of herself, and of herself in 
G-od, produced in her^ as in the vision of S. Francis in 
Mount Alvemia, the perfection of humility which consista 
in the beatitude of the poor in spirit. It is the nearest 
approach to the filial fear of the Heavenly Court, and is to 
be found only in those whose charity has cast out fear, whose 
fear is purified of servile motives. 

4. A fourth perfection conferred upon S. Teresa by this 
union of the soul with God, was an enlargement of the 
intellect. No one can read her writings without perceiv- 
ing a breadth, strength, and subtlety of intellect which is 
more like the intelligence of a man than of a woman. It 
is in the moral and spiritual sciences as it is in the physical 
or the mathematical. We must have axioms to start with, 
and unless we possess certain principles of truth which are 
in themselves evident, and anterior to all reasoning, we 
have no starting points, and the mind is unable, not only 
to make progress, but even to set out on its activity. All 
the operations of a mind without first principles are con- 
fused, vague, and uncertain ; and the mind itself becomes 
narrow and dwarfed. The knowledge of God gives the 
axioms of the spiritual life, and of the knowledge of self* 
The more fully God is known, the firmer and broader are- 



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xiv Preface. 

the processes of the mind in all spiritual and moral 
science. The guidance of the Church, by its divine office 
of teacher^ has elevated and enlarged the intelligence of 
Christendom; and all those who are conformed in heart and 
mind to the living voice of the Church, receive a strength 
and breadth, a clearness and a fulness of intelligence, 
which can in no other way be attained. To what but 
this can be ascribed the fact that the writings of S. Teresa, 
a Spanish lady of no more than common education, who 
entered early into a convent and thereby lost the culture 
and development which the world confers upon many by 
contact and collision with itself, should exhibit a justness 
of judgment, an exuberance of thought in the abstrusest ^ 
matters of the interior life, with a perspicuity and force 
both of conception and language which it is hard to find 
among educated men ? God had taught her to know Him- 
self, and this science made her a teacher in His church. 

6. And, lastly, the knowledge of God conferred upon her 
en elevation and a force of will before which the trials of 
her life, great as they were, gave way. The will which 
at seven years old was so resolved as to leave her father's 
house in quest of martyrdom, expanded into a power 
which never sunk imder the heaviest crosses, or gave 
back before the firmest assaults. The mistrust, calumny, 
abandonment, persecution she had to endure, might have 
broken down a strong man. But woman as she was, she 
passed through all, and came out more than conqueror. 
She who was denounced as deceived and deceiving was 
recognised as a saint; she who was condemned as a 
visionary and hardly sound in faith, was listened to as a 
teacher ; she who was rejected by her own sisters became 
the reformer, not of them alone, but of the Fathers of 



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Preface. x^ 

Mount Carmel ; she who was barely suffered to remain 
within the walls of her convent founded thirty monas-. 
teries of strict observance which the Catholic Church has 
recognised as the works of the Spirit of God. But, for 
such a life of forty years, nothing but a will conformed to 
the will of God, and confirmed by union with His power, 
could have sufficed. 

In reading this life, we meet with many unusual super- 
natural tokens and visitations of the presence and the 
grace of Our Divine Lord. And we might be induced to 
think that the way in which He led S. Teresa is so far 
above the way we walk in, that it affords no example to 
us. In this we should mislead ourselves. The end of her 
life was indeed upon high places where the clouds conceal 
the paths of the saints from the eyes of ordinary Chris- 
tians. She entered into ways of prayer and was favoured 
with visions of the Sacred Humanity which we may hardly 
ask for, and perhaps may never attain ; but though the end- 
ing of her spiritual life transcends our common lot, the 
beginnings did not. She is to us a direct and practical 
example, especially in the point of which I have spoken, 
the knowledge of God, and the nobility it confers upon 
the soul. She set out in her journey towards the moun- 
tain of the Lord as we all do. Her trials and probation 
were the same as ours. She passed through the same 
stipes in attaining to the higher paths which wind out of 
sight in the mountain of perfection ; and we must tread 
the ^ame way if we would attain the vision of God in 
Eternity. That which was vouchsafed to her here is laid 
up, it may be, for us only hereafter. But the path is the 
same* I will therefore trace it briefly, and mark its chief 
steps. 



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xvi Preface. 

The first degree of the knowledge of God in the order 
of grace of which we are speaking, is the illumination of 
faith which elevates the lights of nature to a supernatural 
perception of the beings perfections, character and opera- 
tions of G-od, one in Nature, three in Persons, our Creator, 
Eedeemer, and Sanctifier. This is in every one who is 
baptized ; but in some it is developed more than in others.' 
It pervades the intelligence and the conscience with a 
kind of sense or consciousness of God, of His presence 
and moral judgment of our actions. In those who faith- 
fully correspond with this light it continues to increase 
in clearness and in constraining power. It becomes the 
motive and the measure of their actions, and is the basis 
of all perfection. ' Walk before me, and be perfect,' * was 
the command of God to Abraham. To live under the 
consciousness of God, in His sight and in His hearing so 
to speak, is the highest and deepest motive to obedience. 
Such is the outset of our Christian life. It is to be 
doubted whether the light of faith once infused be ever 
altogether extinguished. ' The devils believe and tremble.' 
The baptized infidel may reject Christianity, but he retains- 
the Theism both of nature and of revelation. He may 
lose his faith, but he does not therefore lose his reaaon ; 
nor does his reason, we may believe, lose the intellectual 
consciousness of the Creator and Judge which baptism 
imparted to it. 

The second degree is the knowledge of the heart, that 
is, of faith working by hope and by charity; by hope 
maturing into confidence, and by charity imiting the soul 
to God by the anion of love. The effect of this knowledge 
which comes by love is two-fold. First, its essential effect 
* Gen. xviL 1. 



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/* 



M 



Preface. xvii 

which is obedience, conformity of will, fervour in its true 
sense of punctuality, regularity, and exactness in the ful« 
filment of duties, generosity in serving God, promptness 
in doing or suflFering His will. All this is called effective 
love, which may be in a high degree of perfection in souls 
which are placid and calm by absence of emotion, or even 
dark and dry by reason of aridities and derelictions. The 
other eflFect is a certain emotion of joy and sweetness in 
the knowledge and love of God which moves the heart 
with lively feeling, and is therefore called the affective love. 
This latter operation is not essential. Many who are 
high in the eflfective love have little of the aflfective. 
Nevertheless it produces its chief eflfects in the soul, 
which are assimilation with God and sympathy with 
the Sacred Heart in its sorrows, intentions, and interests. 
This second degree is the state in which many truly 
Christian souls live and die. 

The third degree is the knowledge of experience ; and 
this is learned partly by the Holy Sacraments of Penance 
and of the Altar, and partly by the Providence whereby 
God is pleased to visit and to dispose of us. Just as we 
learn to know a friend by living with him and making 
trial of his character by personal experience, so it is 
between the soul and God. The events of life, joy and 
sorrow, sickness and recovery, changes and crosses, bring 
out His tenderness, watchfulness, compassion. Selfish 
and imloving natures live among their kindred and friends 
without appreciating or knowing them. All their aflfection 
and self-denial is taken for granted, exacted, and forgotten. 
Nothing is appreciated but the last disappointment, or 
the inevitable crossing of some unreasonable or hurtful 
vrish. So the unworthy children of the noblest parents. 



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xyiii Preface^ 

and the heartfess companions of the most generous friends, 
live and die in profound unconsciousness of the love 
and care which has heen lavished and wasted upon them. 
But higher and better natures discern and appreciate the 
actions and characters of those who love them ; they per- 
ceive their motives and intentions ; and the more delicate 
and nobler they become, they ever imagine for those who 
love them higher and more perfect thoughts and aims than 
they really have. So it is with those that love God, only 
they can never imagine for Him any perfection of love 
and tenderness which goes beyond the truth, or even 
reaches towards the exceeding depth of His compassion. To 
those who love Him Grod is a perpetual object of loving 
contemplation; and as He is contemplated. He is more 
and more perfectly known with the knowledge which comes 
by the heart. It is this the Holy Ghost intends in the 
words * Ghistate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus.' 
* Taste and see that the Lord is sweet.' We see by the 
intellect and taste by the heart ; but the heart gives back 
a new and further light to the intellect, so as to see not 
only that He is love, but that He is sweetness. This is 
what S. Paul intends by the words * that being rooted and 
founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend with 
all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, 
and depth, to know also the charity of Christ, which sur- 
passeth all knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the 
fulness of God.' * It is a new faculty opened in the souL 
As Aristotle, in \hQ Ethics, says of the just man who acquires 
even in the natural order a discernment, and a knowledge 
of moral truths which others have not because *an eye 

» Ephea. iii. 17, la 



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Preface. xix 

grows upon the soul ' — ofifAa ri t§ '^^vxo frpoa^vsrai — so it 
is with those who, knowiDg God by feith and by the hearty 
make trial of His goodness and His sweetness by experience. 
The three chief ways of this experience are prayer, the 
Holy Sacraments, and intelligent submission to Grod in His 
providence. By prayer is meant not vocal prayer only, but 
the prayer of the mind and of the heart sustained habitually 
by recollection of the presence of Grod, and articulated often 
by desires, aspirations, momentary petitions in the actions 
and trials of the day, the renewal of intentions in our 
words and works, and a consciousness of His personal 
relation to us and of ours to Him as our Father and our 
Lord, By the Holy Sacraments as a means of know- 
ledge is meant chiefly those of Penance and of the Altar. 
Frequent confession and frequent communion are the two 
fountains of the knowledge which comes from the ex- 
perience of the love and tenderness of Grod in Jesus 
Christ. And lastly, by intelligent submission to His pro- 
vidence is meant a recognition of the sovereign will of Grod 
in all things, and a conviction that our actual lot, except- 
ing only our sins, which are a depravation of our lot, is a 
revelation of the will of Grod concerning us. The con- 
verse of the soul with Grod, and the conscious union of our 
intelligence with His intelligence, and of our will with 
His will, converts our life into an intelligent moral govern- 
ment and probation, the reasons and issues of which become 
at once, in the main, evident. S. Hilarion on his deathbed 
said to his soul, ^ Gro forth, what fearest thou ? Gro forth, 
my soul ! why dost thou doubt ? For nearly seventy years 
thou hast served Christ, and dost thou fear to die ? ' which 
words breathe the internal personal knowledge which a 

a2 



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XX Preface. 

faithful servant had of a loving master by the long expe- 
rience of his goodness. 

The fourth degree of knowledge is more simply super- 
natural than the last^ and comes by an infusion of grace* 
S. Paul speaks of knowing * the charity of Christ which 
surpasseth knowledge/ which must needs therefore be a 
knowledge above nature. The Psalmist describes it when he 
says, ^ The light of Thy countenance is signed upon us.' • 
This describes a special revealing or manifestation of Him- 
self^ as when the sun rises on the earth, or comes forth 
from behind a cloud. It is an action of God superadding 
to the lights of nature and of reason, of faith, of charity, 
and of experience, a further light of direct efiEusion in 
reward of the fidelity of the souL And this is distinctly 
promised by our Divine Lord through His Apostles to all 
the faithful. 

If any one love Me he will keep My words, and My Father 
will love him, and We wiU come to \\\tc\^ and will make Our 
abode with him. 

He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it 
is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me shall be loved of 
My Father : and I will love him and will manifest Myself to 
him.t 

This special abiding or special manifestation of Him- 
self to the faithful is something over and above His in- 
habitation in all the regenerate, and the ordinary illumi- 
nation of faith. It signifies a special grace vouchsafed tp 
the soul in the maturity of its obedience and union with 
God. It includes two things — ^a new and fuller objective 
manifestation of Himself, and new and deeper subjective 
faculties in the soul to perceive it. * The eyes of your 

* Ps. iv. 7. t S. Jolm xiv. 23, 21. 



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Treface* xxi 

understanding being enlightened/ as S. Paul says:* the 
nobler way of knowing God,' as S. Gregory calls it : or as 
S, Teresa describes it, after telling ns how a picture of our 
Lord^ with the crown of thorns and the purple robe, one 
day in the forty-third year of her life pierced her heart — 
' From that time,' she says, * I opened a new Book, that is, 
I began a new life. That which I had lived hitherto was 
my own : but that which I have lived since, I may say, 
has been God's ; for it seems to me God has lived in me.' 
*0 wonderful goodness of God I ' she says in another place. 
*How changed does the soul come forth, by having been 
only for a short time (never, in my opinion, a full half 
hour) immersed in the greatness of God.' * It is as if the 
presence, nearness, majesty, and spirituality of God had 
become so vast and so immediate that all things pass out 
of sight and out of consciousness. 

The last degree of this knowledge is purely super- 
natural, and comes by a sovereign favour of God ; namely, 
a vision of His presence. The latter years of S. Teresa's 
Hfe were full of it She describes it as follows: *It is 
as if a person were in the dark, and saw not another who 
stood near him ; ' that is, by a consciousness which de- 
pends on no sense. ' Our Lord's presence is represented 
to the soul by a sign clearer than the sun itself; and yet 
no sun or brightness is seen, but only a certain light 
which, without our seeing it, illuminates the under- 
standing.' Again, in another place, she says it is like 
•a fragrance rising from a brazier in the dark.' Now, by 
this she does not mean only the consciousness of which I 
have already spoken, nor the instincts by which S. Paschal 
Baylon, S. Francis Borgia, S. Colette, and many more, 
* Interior Castle, Fiftli Mansion, c 11, p. 78. 



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xxii Preface. 

could follow and discover the presence and the place of 
the Blessed Sacrament. She intended a certain kind of 
vision granted to her by the direct action of God. This 
she carefully distinguishes into its several kinds — ^intel- 
lectual^ spiritual, imaginary, and sensible. She says that 
she saw our Lord ' neither with the eye of the body nor 
of the soul, because it was no imaginary vision;' that is, 
it was not represented to her under any image, but by 
the supernatural sense of His nearness. At another time 
she describes a vision which assumed the form or the true 
image of the Divine Humanity. 

Being one day in prayer, it pleased Him to show me 13jA 
sacred hands, and they were so excessively beautifdl that I 
am not able to describe them. But this sight gave me great 
fear, as indeed every new sight does in the beginning of any 
of those supernatural favours which our Lord is pleased to 
show me. Within a few days after, I saw His Divine face, 
the sight of which ravished me with delight. I could not 
conceive why our Lord showed Himself thus to me, by little 
and little, since afterwards He resolved to do me the fiivour 
that I should see His whole person, till I came to reflect that 
He was pleased to conduct me according to my natural weak- 
ness. (P. 47.) 

Again, she says — 

On the feast of S. Paul, while I was hearing Mass, the 
most Sacred Humanity of Christ was ftdly represented to me, 
as it is painted after BKs resurrection ; but with such great 
beauty and majesty that I can only say, that if there were 
nothing else in Heaven to delight our eyes but the excessive! 
beauty of glorifled bodies, the bliss wotQd be inunense, espe- 
cially the sight of the Humanity of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
And if His Majesty be so great, even when It is represented 
to us in this world, according to that proportion which our 
tnisery can bear, what will it be when we shall wholly enjoy 
and possess such a happiness ? This vision, though repre« 



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Preface. xxiif 

sented to me laj the way of a mental image, waa never seen 
by me with the eyes of my body ; nor was any other, but only 
with the eyes of my soul. They who understand these things 
better than I do, aflfirm that this kind of vision, which ia 
purely intellectual, is of a higher and more perfect kind than 
those which are seen with the bodily eyes. (P. 47.) 

This is, in fact> the same vision of Jesus which was 
vouchsafed to S. Stephen in his martyrdom, S. Paul on 
his way to Damascus, S. Thomas of Canterbury at Pon- 
tigny, S. Ignatius at La Storta; but in the life of S. 
Teresa was so frequent and so abiding in its effects as to 
give a habitual elevation imd nobleness to her mind. 
She describes the glory and beauty of these visions as 
follows : — 

It"is a sight, the clearness and brightness of which exceeds 
all that can possibly be imagined in this world. It is not a 
splendour which dazzles, but a sweet lustra ; nor does that 
light offend the eyes whereby we see this object of such divine 
beauty. It is a light so different from that of this world, that 
even the brightness of the sun itself which we see is dim in 
comparison with its brightness. It is as if we beheld very 
clear wat^* running upon crystal, with the sun's rays reflected 
upon it, and striking through it, in comparison with other 
very muddy water seen in a cloudy day, and running upon an 
earthy bottom. This is a light which never sets, and has no 
night ; but as it is always light, nothing disturbs it. Indeed it 
is of such a nature that no understanding in this life, however 
sublime, would be able adequately to conceive it. (P. 48.) 

One more quotation must be added. S. Teresa had 
ascended through tibe Sacred Humanity into an almost 
habitual consciousness of the Presence of the ever Blessed 
Trinity, which she describes in words which will better 
express than jany of mine what I have endeavoured to 
trace as the knowledge of God by intuitiou. 



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XXIV 'Preface. 

The Three Persons of the most Blessed Trinity manifest 
themselres to this sonl in sach a manner, that she understands 
them aQ to be of one substance, one power, and one wisdom ; 
to be, in short, one Gk)d. So that what we know in this 
world only by faith, that soul, one may say, knows by sight : 
not that she sees anything with her bodily eyes, nor even by 

her interior sight But the Three Adorable Persons 

communicate themselves to that soul, speak to her, and make 
her to undel^tand these words in the Gospel : If annj man love 
Mbj he will keep My coimnandments ; and My Father will love 
Aw», and We will come to hvm and dwell m him, 

O my God, what a difference there is between these words 
striking upon our ear, or even believing them, and under- 
standing them in the manner which I have described ! Since 
that soul has received this favour, it seems to her that those 
Divine Persons have never quitted her. She sees clearly that 
They are in the very inmost depth of her soul, as if in a deep 
abyss. Being an unlearned person she cannot say what that 
abyss may be, but only that there she finds herself in that 
Divine Company. (P. 164.) 

For general readers into whose hands this book may 
pass it may be well to add, what for Catholics is needless, 
namely, that in S. Teresa's mind two things, which are 
sometimes thought to be incompatible, are to be found 
not only in combination but in their highest perfection, 
that is, spirituality and common sense. The mystical ele- 
vations, and the obscurity^which comes from the splendour 
of the subjects of which she speaks, may lead those who 
are not familiar with the science of the Saints to imagine 
that hers was a dreamy, unpractical nature, unbalanced in 
its judgments, fanciful, and impulsive. Nothing can be 
more contrary to the fact. S. Teresa was the reverse of 
all this. Throughout her long life common sense in deal- 
ing with men and things was supreme. Even her running 
away to be mai;tyred, that she might see God, is the com- 



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Preface. xxv 

Inon sense of the Sermon on the Mount. The Founder 
of thirty monasteries, and the Reformer of Mount Carmel, 
both of men and of women, had the broad common sense^ 
palm judgment, and balanced mind of a legislator or a 
ruler. In fact, S. Teresa is an example of a great moral 
truth, namely, that spirituality perfects common sense: 
forasmuch as it is a part of the nobleness and perfection 
of the soul which comes by the knowledge of Q-od. ' Q-od 
is a Spirit, and they who adore Him must adore Him in 
spirit and in truth.' Spirituality is the perfection of the 
reason and the will, the sanity of the whole intellectual 
and moral nature in all its instincts and operations. G-od 
is not glorified by diseases of the imagination, nor by the 
imbecilities of the mind. Wheresoever God abides in 
the soul He perfects it. The Seven Gifts of the Holy 
Spirit, to Whom S. Teresa had an especial devotion, per- 
fect both the intellect and the will : the intellect in its 
speculative and practical faculties, and the will in its 
rectitude and power. In truth, the soul cannot be con- 
formed to God without growing in what is called common 
sense, which does not consist, as the world would have 
it, in conformity to its own public opinion, or to the 
customs which reign among the majority, but in con- 
formity to wisdom and prudence, to the will of God 
which is the universal rule of right, and to the common 
instincts and judgments of those who are united with 
Him. The common sense of a soul full of God may be 
opposed to the common sense of the world full of itself. 
But * the foolishness of God is wiser than men.' 

Such, then, are the five degrees of the knowledge of 
God, which are illustrated in a luminous distinctness in 
the life of S. Teresa, namely — ^the knowledge of faith, of 



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xxvi Preface. 

love, of experience, of infugSon, and of intuition, or of 
vision. And it is this knowledge of Grod which expanded 
and ennobled her soul to a capacity of the Divine Pre- 
sence hardly to be surpassed in the examples of the 
Saints. 

And with this one axiom of the spiritual life and of S. 
Teresa's theology, that the knowledge of God is the 
nobUity of the soul, I commend this book, beautiful and 
simple both in its thoughts and in its expressions, to the 
devout reading and the meditation of all who desire to 
know and to love God. 

^ HENEY EDWAED MANNING. 

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, 1866. 



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CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEB I. 
1516—1630. 

CHILDHOOO AMD BABLT Y0T7TH OF 8. TBBESA «... FAGB 1 

CHAPTEB IL 
1630—1637. 

TEBSfiA. IS PLACED BT HEB FATHEB IN AK ATJOTTSTXZnAK CONTBNT — HEB ILL- 
KBSS AMD TOGATION TO BBLIOIOK — SHE EITTEBS THE CABMELITB COK- 
TBMT -OF THE XMCABMATIOK AT ATILA — HEB KOTICIATB AlfD FB0FB8- 
8I0N 8 

CHAPTER m. 
1637—1657. 

8ETBBB nXMESS AlfD 8X7FFOSED DEATH OF TBBBSA — ^HEB BBOOTBBT BT THE 

DTTEBCBSSIOK OF 8. JOSBPHr— BBLAXATIOK OF FEBYOXTB — ^DBATH OF 

. ALOMZO DE CEFEDA — TEBBSA BESUHB8 THE FBACTICB OF MENTAL 

TBAYEB — ^LONG TBCALS . 16 

CHAPTER IV. 
1667. 

Sw TEEBSA'b FKBFBCT OOirVEBSXOK TO GOD— fiUFEBNATUBAL GDT OW TBATBB 
.--HEB FEAB OF BEING DELUDED — CONSULTS DON FBANCSS BALCEDO 
AND 1CA8TEB DAZA — THEIB OFDnON THAT SHE IS UNDEB A DIABOLICAL 
DELUSION— tOUB LOiSD . BBASSUBBS HEB 24 



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xxviii . Contents. 

CHAPTEB V. 
1567. 

8. TEBESA ASKS COUNSEL OF THE FATHEBS OF THE SOCIETT OF JESUS — F. J. 
DE PRADANOS AND 8. F. BOBOIA BOTH ENCOURAGE HEB — ^DONA GUIOMAB 
D*ULLOA — ^F. BALTHA8AB ALVAREZ BECOMES HER DIRECTOR — ^INTERIOR 
CONFLICTS TERMINATINa I^ GREAT PEACE AND FREEDOH OF 80X7L — 
HEB THAinCFULNBSS FOR HER DELIYERANCB . . . PAGE 32 

CHAPTER VI. 
1668. 

SUCCESSION OF WONDERFUL VISIONS VOUCHSAFED TO THE SAINT — ^DISTRUST 
AND SUSPiaON EXCITED THEREBY BOTH OF TERESA AND OF HER CON- 
FESSOR — SPIRITUAL PROFIT. WHICH SHE DERIVED FROH THEM — ^EXCEL- 
LENCE OF HER OBEDIENCE — ^ENCOURAGEMENT AND CONSOLATION WHICH 
SHE RECEIVED FROM OUR DIVINE LORD • • • • .44 

CHAPTEK Vn. 
1659. 

THB HEART OF S. TERESA MIBACULOUSLT WOUNDED BY A 8EBAPH — ^HEB 
HEROIC VOW — SHE CONSULTS S. PETER OF ALCANTARA UPON HER 
METHOD OF PRAYER — HE APPROVES IT, AND SHE SENDS HIM A FULL 
STATEMENT OF HEB CASE IN WRITINa , » 4 • * • 66 

CHAPTER Vra. 
1660. 

FEABFUL ASSAULTS OF THE EVIL ONE — ^DSLIVEBANCB OF A SOUL FROM HIS 
FOWBB — ^VISION OF HELL ........ 72 

CHAPTER IX. 
1560. • 



TBBBSA'S FIBST IDEA OF HEB RBFOBM — ^MOTIVES FOB UNDEBTAKING IT — 

FEAST OF MOUNT CABMEL — ^MABY OF OCAMPO OUB LOBD COMMANDS 

THAT THE WOBK SHOULD BE BEGUN — CONSULTATION WITH S. PETEB OF 
ALCANTABA, S. LOUIS BEBTBAND, AND F. ALVAREZ — THE PROVINCIAL 
GIVES HIS CONSENT TO THB FOUNDATION — COMMOTION RAISED IN THE 
Cmr AND CONVENT — CONSULTATION WITH F. rBANEZ — THE PROVINCIAL 
WITHDBAWS HIS CONSENT — F. ALVABEZ COMMANDS THE SAINT TO BE- 
UNQUISH ^EB UNDSBTAXINO ••••••• 81 



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• Contents. xxix 

. CHAPTER 3C ; 
1561. 

AFFBAL TO BOMB — S. TEBB8A IS TKBJLLTVlXfa} WITH THB INQTIISITIOK" 
8HB LAYS OFEK EBB CONSCIENCE TO F. IBANBZ, AND TO OASFAB DS 
BAT.AZAR, THB NEW BBCTOB OF THB mSTTITS' H0U8B AT AYILA — THBY 
AFFBOYE HEB DESIGN, AND OUB LOBD COMMAin)S HEB TO FBOCEED 
WITH IT IMMEDIATELY — ^LETTEB TO HEB BBOTHBB — ^FBESH ASSAITLTS 
OF THB DEVIL — ^MIBACULOUS BESTOBATION TO UFB OF GONZALEZ 
D'OYALLB *••*«••»•• PAOB 94 

CHAPTER XL 
1661, 1662. 

8. TEBBSA-IS SENT TO TOLEDO^ TO CONSOLE DONA LOUISA DB LA CEBDA — 
WONDEBFUL EFFECTS OF HEB FBESENCB THEBE — ^MABY DB HAT.AZAB — 
F. BABON — ^MOTHEB MABY OF JESUS — S. TBBBSA DBTEBMINES TO FOUND 
HEB CONVENT IN STBICT FOVEBTY — OiPPOSITION WHICH SHE MEETS 
WITH — ^LETTEB OF S. FETEB OF ALCANTABA — HEB BBTUBN TO AVILA— - 
ABBIVAL OF THB BBIEF FBOM BOMB — THB BISHOP OF AVILA ACCEPTS 
THB FOUNDATION — ^FIBST MASS AND CLOTHING OF FOUB NOVICES AT S« 
JOSEPH'S »...».••••• 109 



CHAPTER Xn. 
1662—1667. 

TBIAL OF DESOLATION WHICH FELL UPON S. TEBBSA IMMEDIATELY AFTEB 
HEB FIBST FOUNDATION — SHE IS BBCALLED TO THB CONVENT OF THE 
INCABNATION, AND SUMMONED BBFOBB THE PBOVINCLAL, WHO IS SATIS- 
FIED BY HEB EXPLANATION — ^BENEWED CLAMOUB IN THE CITY, WHICH 
IS FINALLY APPEASED BY F. BANBZ AND , GASP^B QAZA — TEBBSA IS 
ALLOWED TO BBTUBN TO S. JOSEPH'S — THB HOLINBSS AND HAPPINESS 
OF THB LITTLE COMMUNITY— TEBESA'S INSPIRATION TO EXTEND HEB 
WOBK — ^VISIT OF THB FATHEB GENBBAL — ^HB SANCTIONS THB EBBCTION 
OF NEW CONVENTS OF THB BEFOBM FOB WOMEN — AND SUBSBQX7BNTLY 
OF TWO ALSO FOB MEN 131 



CHAPTER Xni. 
1667. 

FOUNDATION OF CONVENT AT MEDINA DEL CAMPO— THB SAINT's MODE OF 
TRAVELLING — ^MABY OF S. JBBOMB — HELEN DB QUIBOGA A2n> HER 
DAUGHTEB — INSTRUCTION ON THB TRUE NATURE OF PERFECTION AND 



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XXX CantenUi. . 

VmOTX "WITH GOD — ^F. AITTONT DS HEBEDIA AND 8. JOHN OF THB CROSS 
EMBBACB THB BEFOBU -••».••• FAOB 161 



CHAPTER XIV. 
1567. 

GIFT OF A HOTTSE AT VAIXADOUD— TBBBSA VISITS MADRID ON HER WAT TO 
THB CONTENT FOtTNDBD BY MART OF JESUS AT ALCALA — SHE INSTBTTCTS 
THS BftLIGIOUS OF THAT HOUSE IN THB TRUE "WAT OF PERFECTION, 
AND 'GIVES THfiM TfiE CbNSTrtTJTIOiTS O^ HER* REFORM — FOUNDATION 
AT MALAGON — SHE ACCEPTS THE GrFT OF A POOR COTTAGE AT DURVBLO 
FOR THE FIRST HOUSE OF DISCALCED FRIARS — ^FOUNDATION AT VALLA- 
DOLID — DELIVERANCE OF THE SOUL OF DON BERNARDIN DE MENDOZA 
FROM FURGATORT — ^EXTRAORDINART PERFECTION OF THB FIRST RE- 
LIGIOUS OF VALLADOLED ••...••• 179 



CHAPTER X7. 
1568—1671. 

FOUNDATION OF THB FIRST HOUSB OF DISCALCED FRIARS AT DUBVELO — 
REMOVED AFTERyrARD^ TO .MANQERA-r-FOUNDATION OF A CONVENT AT 
TOLEDO : AND OF TWO HOUSES, ONE OF FRIARS AND ANOTHER OF NUNS, 
AT PASTRANA — P. AMBROSE MARIANO — ARRIVAL OF THE APOSTOLICAL 
VISITOR, PETER HERMANDEZ, WHO GIVES FACULTIES FOR THE ERECTION 
OF A THIRD MONASTERT OF DISCALCED CARMES AT ALCALA DE HENAREZ 
— ^FOUNDATION OF THB CONVENT AT SALAMANCA — ^ANNE OF JESUS — 
AGNES OF JBSUS — ^ANNE OF THB INCARNATION — ^FOUNDATION OF THB 
CONVENT AT ALVA DB TORMEZ — SELECTION OF PRIORESS AT MEDINA 
DISPLEASES THB F. PROVINCIAL, WHO COMMANDS THB SAINT TO RETURN 
TO AVILA, WHBNCB SHE IS AGAIN RECALLED BT THB APOSTOUO 
VISITOB , 189 



CHAPTER XVI. 
1671—1674. 



8. TERESA IS APPOINTED PRIORESS OF THE CONVENT OF THE INCARNATION 
AT AVILA — OPPOSITION ON THB PART OF THE NUNS OVERCOME BT HER 
GENTLENESS AND FIRMNESS — ^WONDERFUL RENOVATION OF THE SPIRITUAL 
AND TEMPORAL STATE OF THB COMMUNITY — ^VISION OF OUR B. LADT — 

AND OF OUR DIVINE LORD HE ESPOUSES THB SAINT TO HIMSELF 

EXTRACT FROM THB INTERIOR CASTLE — THB DISCALCED FRIARS OBTAIN 
A FOOTING IN ANDALUSIA — THE SAINT VISITS SALAMANCA— LETTER TO 



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Contents. xni 

HER SUfTEH COVCESJXJSQ THB EXPECTED BETUBN OF THEIB BBOTHEB 
LAUBENCE — FOTTKDATION- AT SEOOTIA, AlVl) BEHOYAL THTTHEB OF THE 
NUNS FBOM FASTBANA— -VISION OF 8. AIJ3EBT . . • PAGE 217 



CHAPTER XVH. 
1674. 

FOUNDATION OF VBAS— S. TBBESA's FEBST INTEkVlEW "WITH F. OBACtAN — 
EEB HISTOBT OF HIS NOTICIATE — HE ACCOMFAITIES F. ICABIANO INTO 
ANDALU8IA-*-THE 'APOSTOLICAL TISTTOB DELEGATES HIS PO-WEBS TO HIM 
— ^LAYS AN INHTNOTION T7P0N S. TEBBSA TO FOUND A HOUSE AT SEVILLE 

OUB LOBD BEYEALS TO HEB THAT HE HAS APPOINTED F. GBACIAN 

TO BE HEB GUIDE — ^HEB YOW OF OBEDIENCE TO HDC . • 240 

CHAPTER XVm. 
1575, 1576. 

FOUNDATION OF SBYILLB— TRIALS ENDUBED BT 8. TEBBSA — FEB8BCUTI0N 
BAISED AGAINST THE BEFOBM — S. TEBBSA's NABBATIYB OF THB STBUQGLE 
• — THE NUNCIO HOBMANETO — GENEBAL CHAFTEB AT PLACENTIA FOBBIDS 
a TEBESA TO PBOCEED WITH HEB FOUNDATIONS, OB TO LEAYB THB 
CONTENT WHICH SHE ICAT CHOOSE AS HEB BBSIDBNCE — HEB LBTTEB 
TO THE FATHEB GENEBAL — ^LAUBENCE OF CEPEDA SBCUBES A HOUSE 
FOB THE NUNS — 8. TEBBSA DENOUNCED TO THE HOLT OFFICE — LETTEB 
TO MOTHER MART OF S. JOHN BAPTIST — ^FOUNDATION OF GABAYACA — 
S. TEBESA LBAYES SEYELLE FOB TOLEDO— FIB8T CHAPTEB OF ALMO- 
QOYA^ ....•...•, 254 



CHAPTER XrX. 

1576—1579. 

f 

LETTERS TO F. GBACIAN AITO F. MARIANO ON THB AFFAIRS OF THB ORDER— 
Ass. OF THE HISTOBT OF S. TBBESA's LIFE AFPROYED BT THE GRAND 
INQUISITOR — ^BOOK OF THE FOUNDATIONS — ^DEATH OF THE NUNCIO — HIS 
SUCCESdORy PHILIP SEGA — SEYERITIE8 EXERaSED AGAINST THE REFORM 
— 8. TERESA IS SENT TO AYILA TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR PLACING 
THE CONYENT OF S. JOSEPH UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THB ORDER 
.— LETTER TO THE KING— THE SAINT'S ABM IS BROKEN — ^PERSECUTION 
RAISED AGAINST THE inTNS OF THE INCARNATION — IMPRISONMENT OF 
S. JOHN OF THB CROSS • • 272 



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xxxii Contents, 

CHAPTER XX. 

1578, 1579. 

F. NICOLAS DOBIA — ^LBTTBB OF 8. TBBBSA. TO F. OBACIAK OK BBCEIVINO 
INTELLIOENCB OF THB DEATH OF THE FATHER GENEBAL — CALX7MNIE8 
AlO) CONSEQUENT FBB8ECUTI0N AGAINST F. GRACIAN AND THE NI7NS OF 
SEYILLB — ^LETTER FROM S. TEBBSA TO THE MOTHER PRIORESS, MARY 
OF S. JOSEPH — THE DISCALCED FATHERS DETERMINE T7PON HOLDING A 
CHAPTER FOR THE ERECTION OF AN INDEPENDENT PROTINCE—LBTTERS 
OF S. TERESA X7P0N THB SUBJECT . . . • • PAGE 285 

CHAPTER XXL 
1579. 

F. ANTONY OF JESUS IS CHOSEN PROVINCIAL — ^INDIGNATION OF THB NUNCIO 
— ^HE IMPRISONS THE LBADERS OF THB REFORM — ^MOMENTARY DEPRES- 
SION OF S. TERESA — CONSOLATION YOUCHSAFED TO HER BY OUR LORD 
— HER LETTERS TO F. MARIANO AND F. JOHN OF JESUS — IRRESOLUTION 
OF F. GRAaAN — ^ITS CAUSE — ^LETTERS FROM S. TERESA — ^AT THE DESIRE 
OF THB XING THB NUNCIO ASSOCIATES WITH HIMSELF FOUR ASSESSORS, 
BY WHOM THE DISCALCED ARE FREED FROM THB AUTHORITY OF THB 
PROYINCIAL OF THB MITIGATION, AND THB IMPRISONED FATHERS AND 
THE HOLY MOTHER ARE SET AT LIBERTY — ^F. ANGELO DB SALAZAR IS 
MADE SUPERIOR OF THE REFORM — HE APPOINTS F. GRACIAN HIS AS- 
SISTANT AND SECRETARY — ^LETTER OF S. TERESA — ^RBTBLATION MADE 
TO HER AT AYTLA — SHE IS ATTACKED BY PARALYSIS — ^DEPUTATION SENT 
TO ROME TO PROCURE THB ERECTION OF A SEPARATE PROVINCB — LETTER 
TO ANNE OF JESUS . . • . , , . . . 295 

CHAPTER XXTT. 
1580. 

F0X7NDATI0N OF YILLANUEVA — CATHARINE OF CARDONA — ^S. TERBSA'S ABM 
IS BROKEN A SECOND TIME — SHE RETURNS TO TOLEDO , . 305 

CHAPTER XXni. 
1580, 1581. 

SEYERB ILLNESS OF THE SAINT — ^DBATH OF HER BROTHER LAURENCE — 
LETTERS TO HER NEPHEW AND TO MOTHER MARY OF S. JOSEPH ON 
THE SUBJBdT — ^FOUNDATION OF PALENCIA — ^FEABS OF S. TERESA EE- 
MOTBD BY A WORD PROM OUR LORD— HAPPY CONCLUSION OF THB 
FOUlfDATION • . , . 314 



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Contents. xxxiii 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
1581. 

BBIEF GRANTED AT BOME FOB THE EBECTIOK OF A SBPABATE FBOYmCE— 
liETTEBS OF S. TBBESA TO F. GRAOIAN, ON THE AFFAIBS OF THE OBDEB 

OPENINO OF THE CHAFTEB AT ALCALA— F. OBACIAN IS ELECTED 

F&OYINCIAL — ^LETTEB FBOM S. TEBESA .... PAGE Z25 

CHAPTER XXV. 
1681, 1582. 

FOUNDATION OF SOBIA — S. TEBESA IS APPOINTED PBIOBBSS OF S. J08EPH*S 
AT AYILA — ^LETTEBS TO MABT OF S. JOSEPH AND TO F. GBACIAN — 
WHAT HAD BEFALLEN THOSE WHO AIDED THE SAINT IN HEB FIBST 
FOUNDATION 333 

CHAPTER XXVL 
1582. 

F0X7NDATI0N OF BUBGOS— COUBAGE OF THE SAINT IN 8UBMOUNTINO ALL 
THE OBSTACLES THB<)WN IN ITS WAY BY THE ABCHBISHOP — ^LETTEB TO 
HEB NEPHEW IK AMEBICA — ^THE ABCHBISHOP'S OBJECTIONS AT ILAST 
BEMOYED BY A LETTEB FBOM THE BISHOP OF PALENCIA . . 340 

CHAPTER XXVIL 
1582. 

INUNDATION AT BUBGOS — S. TEBESA LEATBS BUBGOS TO BBTUBN TO AVILA 
— HEB FOBEKNOWLEDGE OF HEB DEATH — LAST LBTTEB TO F. GBACIAK 
FBOM YALLADOLID — ^ABBIYES AT MEDINA, AND AT THE DESIBB OF F. 
ANTONY OF JESUS BELINQUISHES HEB INTENTION OF PBOCBEDINO TO 
ATILA AND TUBNS ASIDE TO ALYA — HEB LAST SICKNESS— HEB DEATH, 
PBECEDED AND FOLLOWED BY KIBACLBS — BUBLAL AND CANONIZA- 
TION . 356 

NOTES 371 



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INTRODUCTION. 



It has been often said that when Grod raises up one of His 
chosen champions to do great things in His Church, He 
places a woman by his side to be his helper, and to bear 
her part in the work ; that as Mary stood by the Cross of 
Jesus^ uniting her sacrifice with His, her daughters may 
not be deprived of their share in carrying out the great 
work of redemption. 

The two Saints in many instances work together, as 
S. Francis and S. Clare, S. Benedict and S. Scholastica, 
S. Francis of Sales and S. Jane Frances de Chantal ; in 
others they are unknown to each other by face, and labour 
in their several spheres apart, the woman carrying out in 
silence and in prayer the ministry which calls forth all the 
active strength and intellect of the man. 

Thus, in opposition to the great Protestant delusion, 
Gtxi raised up two instruments, most unequal, according to 
man's judgment, to cope with the gigantic powers of Luther. 
They were indeed, like him, endowed with extraordinary 
intellectual gifts ; yet what power but His Who sent David 
to fight against Groliah with a shepherd's sling and stone, 
could have enabled a Spanish soldier and a Spanish woman 
to cope with the apostate Mar and learned theologian of 
Wittenburgh ? 



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xxxvi Introduction. 

It is a stirring tale, which tells us how Ignatius fought 
and conquered ; how the hard-won victory first gained over 
his own iron will gave him a mastery, perhaps unequalled, 
over the wills of other men, and how his whole after life 
was a carrying out of his own meditation upon the two 
standards, a close following of his Leader's footsteps in the 
conflict with the armies of Lucifer. But while he was 
thus fighting in the plain^ there was one upon the moun- 
tain holding up her hands in prayer, to whom no less a 
share of the victory is to be assigned ; one who like himself 
had been cradled in ease and splendour, and had left all 
to share the poverty of her Lord ; one endowed with all 
the gifts of person, fortune, and intellect which could 
make this world alluring ; with a woman's quick and sensi- 
tive affections, joined to the intellect of a highly gifted 
man, and who yet buried all these in a Carmelite cell, 
finding no better way to slake her burning thirst for the 
glory of Grod and the salvation of men than to gather to- 
gether a few poor women like herself to labour with her 
in perfecting their own souls, that so God might hear the 
prayers they offered night and day for others. 

There is a resemblance in the characters of the two 
Saints no less than in the aim they set before themselves, 
arising partly no doubt from the identity of their country 
and their class. Human nature nowhere seems to have 
worn a nobler aspect than in the Spanish hidalgos of their 
day, and in the Spanish peasants of our own. The national 
character has all the fire of the South and all the calm 
steadfastness of the North ; it is cast in a heroic mould, 
and, when touched by fire from above, moves heavenward 
with a free unfaltering step like that of Ignatius Loyola 
and Teresa d'Ahumada. 



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Introdvjction* xxxvii 

But besides what is common to them as Spaniards^ there 
is a peculiarity in the character of both, which forms 
another point of resemblance. S. Ignatius, even in the 
dazzling light of the abundant revelations vouchsafed to 
him, is remarkable for nothing more than for his calm 
practical wisdom and deep insight into the souls of other 
men ; and the seraphic S. Teresa, the highly favoured 
spouse of Christ, the great teacher of mystical theology, is 
no less distinguished as the Saint of common sense. 

It is this which makes her life of such practical utility 
as an example, not only to those who are called, like her, 
to seek after perfection in the observance of the counsels, 
but to the great multitude of Christian people, who have 
to sanctify their souls in the tangled and cumbered paths 
of ordinary life. For them, as well as for the solitary 
dwellers on Mount Carmel, this great contemplative Saint 
has a lesson, which, if faithfully carried into practice, will 
enable them to attain to the only perfection of which a 
creature is capable — conformity to the will of its Creator. 
She has a lesson too for all, whether religious or secular, 
in times full, like ours and like her own, of distress and 
perplexity, when the enemies of the Church are active 
and mighty, and the love of too many of her children 
waxes cold. Their hearts often faint within them when 
they look out on the wide harvest-field and ask in vain 
for the reapers. They have neither power nor vocation, 
it may be, to enter it themselves; they are women or 
unlearned laymen ; how shall they cope with the hideous 
shapes of sin and blasphemy which choke the air of 
England, or answer the sophistries of modern rationalism ? 
S. Teresa will teach them — by sanctifying their own souls 
and the souls of those under their immediate influence. 



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xxxviii Introduction. 

This was her weapon against the Antichrist of her day : 
this must be ours against the Antichrist of our own. What 
instrument could have seemed more powerless than a 
lonely nun in a relaxed convent to work that greater 
wonder than the conversion of sinners — the awakening of 
the lukewarm and the self-indulgent ? Yet she accom- 
plished the task which holy and learned prelates had 
essayed in vain. She made the order of Mount Carmel 
once more the glory of the Church ; and by the prayers 
of her daughters and the heroic labours of her sons, made 
ample reparation to the Sacred Heart of her Divine 
Spouse for the desolation of His vineyard by the Lutheran 
and the Huguenot. Still does she speak to the weakest 
amongst us those great words of hope and promise : — 

Let nothing disturb thee, 
Let nothing affiright thee ; 
All passeth away : 
God only shall stay. 
Patience wins all : 
Who hath God needeth nothing, 
For God is his all.* 

The materials for the following life have been furnished 
by the Saint's own history of her life and foundations 
(in the translations of P6re Bouix and Canon Dalton) ; her 
Letters, with the valuable notes of P6re Bouix ; and an 
Italian ii/g,in four volumes, published at Eome 1837, by 
II Padre Federigo di S. Antonio, of the Order of Mount 
Carmel, derived from the contemporary histories of Bibera 
and Yepez, both confessors of S. Teresa, the chronicles 
of the Order, the acts of her canonization^ and other 
authentic sources. 

P. Federigo tells us in his preface that he does not 

* Lines written by S. Teresa in her Breviary. 



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Introduction. 



xxxix 



write for learned men or religious alone, but for all kinds 
of readers, to whom S. Francis of Sales, in his Intro- 
duction to a Devout LifCy especially commends the history 
of S. Teresa as a mirror in which they may behold the 
perfect reflection of the Christian life. 

To him and to her we commend this attempt to throw 
the light of heroic sanctity upon ordinary life, praying 
them to obtain for us the grace which shall raise our low 
aims and bring down our proud wills, that so our dear 
country (once the Island of Saints) may recover its lost 
inheritance of sanctity. 



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LIFE 

OP 

SAINT TERESA. 



CHAPTER I. 
1515-1530. 

CHILDHOOD AITD EABLY Y0T7IH 01* S. lEBESA. 

S. Tbbesa was bom in tlie ancient and beautifiil city of Avila, 
in Old Castile, wliose inhabitants bad been long distinguished 
for their nobility of character and their love for the holy 
Chnrch of Jesus Christ. They were no less remarkable for 
their refinement of manners, and for the grace and beauty of 
the Castilian idiom, which they spoke in all its purity. Avila 
was called of old, from the chivalrous bearing of its people, 
* the city of knights,' an appellation which, when it became 
the birth place of Teresa, and the cradle of her reform, gave 
place to the higher and holier title of ' the city of Saints.' 

The parents of S. Teresa — ^Alonzo Sanchez de Cepeda, and 
Beatrice d' Avila d'Ahumada — sprang from two of the noblest 
houses of Castile, and were not less eminent for their virtues 
than for their proud descent. Alonzo Sanchez was, we are 
told by his daxighter, a most pious and devoted Christian, full 
of charity to the poor and to the sick, and so compassionate 
towards slaves that he could never endure to have one in his 
service, and on one occasion, when a female slave belonging to 
bis brother hapx)ened to stay in his house, it was observed that 



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2 ii/e of S. Teresa. 

he treated lier witli tlie same charitable and fatherly kindness 
which he would have shown towards a daughter of his own. 

Never was an oath or a word of deceit or of detraction 
heard from his mouth. His favourite recreation was the study 
of devout books, with which his house was abundantly 
supplied. He was in fact the very model of a Christjp.n 
nobleman — 

A veiy perfect gentle knight. 

Dofia Beatrice was endowed by God with many excellent 
giffcs of mind and person ; she was especially devout to our 
Blessed Lady, and caretiilly instilled this devotion into the 
minds of her children ; she was remarkable for her modesty, 
and (though she died at the early age of thirty- three) for her 
singular prudence. S. Teresa, in one of her ecstacies, had the 
happiness of seeing both her parents in bliss enjoying the 
vision of God. 

Teresa d'Ahumada, as she was generally called (according 
to the Spanish custom), after the family name of her mother, 
was bom in 1515. It was in this year that Luther first began 
to publish his heresies. Little did he dream that an infant 
bom in the far distant Spain would perhaps win more souls to 
God than he would be able to destroy. 

She was baptized immediately after her birth in the parish 
church of S. John, by the name of Teresa, which, if the Greek 
derivation assigned to the word be correct, means * wonderful ; * 
a more suitable name could scarcely have been assigned to 
her. 

From her very earliest years Teresa was remarkable for her 
singular beauty of countenance and her sweet and gentle 
modesty. She gave indications also of a mind of no common 
order. With the gracefdl playfulness of a lively child, there 
was mingled something which attracted grave and thoughtfol 
persons to converse with her, and before she could be said to 
have attained the age of reason, she had acquired amongst her 
mother's friends the name of the * wise and discreet matron.* 
Above all, it appeared that Divine grace was sowing deep 
within her soul the seeds of what was one day to prove such 
a rich and abundant harvest. There arose within her a deep 



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Early Aspirationa after God. 3 

disgust for the world and all its pomps, a longing after solitude, 
and an early tender devotion to the most holy Mother of God. 

Her favourite pastime was to read or hear the histories of 
the Saints. Prom the reading of these lives, so intense a desire 
arose within her soul to behoFd the face of Qt)d, that at the 
age- of seven years she earnestly prayed that she might die 
and go to dwell with His Saints before His throne for ever. 
So deeply was she impressed with the thought of the exceed- 
ing glory and intense anguish of the world beyond the grave, 
that she would often exclaim, as if transported out of herself, 
* For ever, for ever.' 

These passages of her childhood S. Teresa thus described : 
*I had a brother (named Roderick) about my own age, to 
whom, though I loved all the others much,* and was much 
beloved by them, I bore especial affection. We delighted 
in reading the lives of the Saints together, and when we 
saw what tortures they endured for the love of God, it seemed 
to me that all this was as nothing to give for the enjoy- 
ment of Him; therefore I desired to die in this manner, 
not so much moved thereto by the love of God as by the 
desire of soon entering upon the possession of those great 
joys which, as we read, were to be found in Paradise. My 
brother and I often discoursed together upon the matter, and 
at last we agreed that we would go into the country of the 
Moors, asking alms for the love of God, that so we might 
come to be beheaded ; and it seems to me that our Lord gave 
us in that tender age courage to suffer whatever might have 
come upon us. But our parents being alive seemed to us a great 
impediment. It terrified us much to read and hear of eternal 
punishment and eternal glory ; hence it came to pass that we 
spent much time in discoursing of such things, and delighted 
in repeating over and over again For ever, for ever. Thus, by 
the repetition of these words, did the Lord impress this truth 
upon my heart even in my childhood.* 

The two children at last bethought themselves to put their 
plan in execution. They took a few bits of bread with them to 

I * Don Alonzo de Cepeda was twice married, and was the father of twelve 

I children, Teresa was the third of his nine children by the second marriage 

B 2 



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4 Life of 8. Teresa. 

serve for provision by the way; and, escaping from their father's 
house, they resolved to cross over to Africa, there to ask ahns 
in the name of Jesus Christ and for the love of that blessed 
name, so hated by the Moors, to lay down their innocent 
lives. So rapid was their pace, that they had passed the city 
gates and the bridge which c]^sses the river Adagia before 
their flight was discovered. Their mother was in anguish at 
the news of their disappearance, fearing that they might have 
slipped into a well, or that some other misfortune had befallen 
them, and sent in search of them in every direction, when 
Divine Providence, which had other enterprises in store for 
the heroic child, so ordered that she should be met by her 
uncle, Francis Alvarez Cepeda, and brought back, together • 
with her brother, to their father's house. Being severely 
reproved by his mother, poor Roderick, although the elder 
of the two, threw the blame upon his sister, who, he said 
truly, had persuaded him to the enterprise. Teresa's apology 
bespoke the greatness of her courage. ' I ran away,' said she, 
' because I want to see God, and because I must die before I 
can see Him.' She was to die, not by the Moorish scimitar, 
but of the lingering wound of Divine Love ; and this brother, 
so dearly loved, who was to have been her companion in 
martyrdom, grew up to be a valiant warrior, and at last fell 
in battle with the enemies of the Church, being honoured by 
his saintly sister as a martyr for the faith. 

Teresa was greatly disappointed, and shed many a tear over 
the loss of her expected crown. She tried to console herself 
by other exercises of piety ; as she could not be a martyr, 
she resolved to become a hermit. Roderick was again called 
into he? counsels, and together the two children erected little 
hermitages in the garden, where they were to live like solitaries 
in the desert. The hermitages, Hke all other creations of 
young and inexpert hands, soon fell into ruin ; but there was 
an earnest meaning beneath this childish play, a presage of 
the solitudes which were hereafter to be peopled by her 
daughters, as the victories of the boy David over the lion and 
the bear prefigured his fature triumphs over the enemies of 
God. 

At this early age the Lord began already to impart to her 



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Passion for Romances of Chivalry. 5 

some foretaste of that excellent gifb of prayer, by which she 
was hereafter to be snch a light to His Church. She had no 
one to teach her, bnt she would gaze for hours upon a picture 
which hung in her chamber of our Lord conversing with the 
woman of Samaria, until an intense thirst arose within her to 
drink of the living water, which had been promised to her, 
and she would repeat over and over again, ' Lord, give me this 
water.' To the exercise of prayer, Teresa joined other acts 
of piety and mercy. * I confess,' she says, ' that I gave alms 
to the best of my ability, but I had very little in my power. 
I stole away into solitude to recite various devotions, and 
especially the rosary, to which my mother was particularly 
devoted, and which I had learned from her to love. I took 
great pleasure, when I was with other children, in erecting 
convents and pretending to be nuns. I felt a great desire 
to be a nun, yet not so great as I had felt to be a martyr 
or a hermit.' 

Such were the holy images which filled the heart of Teresa 
in her early childhood. When she came to about the age of 
nine years, the enemy of soxds spread a subtle snare before 
her, to arrest her onward progress. Encouraged by the 
example of her mother, and the sympathy and companionship 
of her faithful ally Roderick, she began to read the romances of 
cbivalry, which were the darling amusements of her age and 
country. To this she attributed in after years, not only a 
decay of her childish fervour, but the introduction of a spirit 
of worldliness and, frivolity, which led to an over-fastidious- 
ness as to dress, personal appearance, and other vanities liti^ 
thought of by the ordinary run of Christians, but seen in its 
true light by the spiritual discernment of the Saints. 

* My mother,' she tells us in her narrative of these early 
years, *was particularly fond of reading books of romance, 
though she did not imbibe so much evil by this entertainment 
as I did, because it did not hinder her usual work, but it made 
us omit many duties that so we might read these books. And 
perhaps my mother read them that thus her thoughts might 
not dwell on the great troubles she endured, and her children 
might so occupy themselves as not to fall into other more 
dangerous things. My father, however, was so particular on 



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6 Life of S. Teresa. 

this point,, that, great care was taken lest lie should know any- 
thing on the subject. Bnt I continued in the habit of reading 
these books, and this slight fault of mine, which I perceived 
in myself, began to cool my good desires, and was the cause 
of my failing in other things. I fancied, however, there was 
no harm, though I spent many hours both of the day and 
night in so vain an exercise, unknown to my father. But I 
was so much addicted to this habit, that if I could not obtain 
some new book, it seemed to me I could not be happy. 

* I began also to wear fine clothes, and to desire to appear 
handsome. I took great care of my hands and of my hair, 
and was fond of perfiimes, together with all those vanities 
which I was able to obtain, which were many ; for I wsis very 
curious in this respect. I had, however, no bad intention, 
because I did not wish anyone to offend Grod on my account.' 

But an act of tender . devotion towards our Blessed Lady 
exercised by Teresa in her twelfth year proves that her early 
piety, if weakened by these frivolous studies, was by no means 
extinguished. It was in that year that our Lord called to 
Himself the soul of her beloved mother Beatrice d'Ahumada. 
Li the anguish of this first and most cruel bereavement, the 
orphan girl ran to an image of Mary, and with many tears, 
but with sincere and childlike confidence, besought the Queen 
of Angels to be to her not only an advocate, but in very truth 
a mother, Eke that beloved one who had just been taken from 
her. How graciously her prayer was accepted will appear in 
the sequel of this history. She tells us herself: ' It seems to 
me that, though I did this in my simplicity, it has been of 
great use to me, inasmuch as whenever I have recommended 
myself to that sovereign Virgin, I have ever -experienced from 
her the tender love of a mother, and she has finally brought 
me into her own house.' 

But Teresa was not yet weary of the vanities which had 
taken possession of her imagination, and a new temptation 
assaQed her on the death of her mother. The strict decorum 
of her father's house forbade all familiar intercourse with any 
but near relations. On the plea of kindred, however, several 
of her cousins about the same age with herself were freely 
admitted. The conversation of these young men, who delighted 



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Evil Influence of a Worldly Companion. 7 

in her beauty and vivacity, kept Teresa in a state of nnliealthy 
excitement, which was still more dangerously worked upon by 
a kinswoman of light and worldly character, who, by profes- 
sions of warm and sincere attachment, gained a most danger- 
ous ascendancy over the deep and strong affections of the 
motherless girl. The very loftiness and purity of Teresa's 
mind, which suspected not in another the evil of which it had 
no consciousness in itself, gave this unprincipled young woman 
the greater advantage over her ; and so fiar did the ill-omened 
friendship proceed, that she was beguiled into a secret contract 
of marriage with a stranger, introduced to her by this danger- 
ous companion ; so subtle a snare had Satan laid for her who 
was to be his deadly and victorious enemy. 



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Life of S. Teresa. 



CHAPTER IL 
1530-1537. 

TEBESA IS PLACED BY HER FATHER DT AN ATJOUSTINIAN CON- 
VBITX— HER ILLNESS AJSTD VOOATION TO RELIGION — SHE ENTERS 
THE CARMELITE CONVENT OF THE INCARNATION AT AYILA — 
HER NOYICIATE AND PROFESSION. 

Some snspicioii of his daughter's danger was conveyed to 
the mind of Alonzo de Cepeda, by the anxious care of her 
elder sister Dona Maria, whose approaching marriage with a 
nobleman, named Don Martin de Guzman famished a fitting 
opportunity for placing Teresa in the safe keeping of some 
good religious of the order of S. Augustine, devoted to the 
education of young persons of quality. 

Some days before she entered the convent, while the nuns 
were saying office, a star-like light appeared in the middle of 
the choir, and having circled round the religious, seemed to 
disappear in the bosom of Dona Maria Briceno, the mistress of 
the pensioners. In after years the nuns recognised the mean* 
ing of the vision, as betokening the brilliant light which was 
to be intrusted for a while to the fostering care of Dona Maria. 
Teresa's first week in the convent was troubled by many 
unquiet memories of the vain excitement of the last few 
months at home. The stillness of the cloister and the calm 
faces of the nuns were felt at first as an oppressive burden, 
but gradually our Lord opened her heart to the quiet happi- 
ness around her ; it felt like balm upon her fevered and agitated 
spirit ; she began to love the house wherein she dwelt, and to 
like conversing with the good religious, though she felt an 
extreme repugnance to embrace the religious state. But our 
Lord was gently drawing her to Himself. In this holy 



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DoAJon of a Religiovs Vocation. 9 

retirement slie learned to understand the perils through 
which she had passed ; and while she shuddered at the re- 
collection, she felt a thrill of gratitude to that Divine Cham- 
pion, who had rescued her so gently and yet so mightily. 
She felt moved to love Him ardently who had so deeply loved 
her. *It seems,' she says, *as if His Majesty had gone on 
<;onsidering and reconsidering how He could bring me back to 
Himself.' She frequently approached the Sacrament of Pen- 
ance, communicated with sincere and fervent devotion, resumed 
the saying of her rosary which she had somewhat neglected, 
and the reading of spiritual books, used many vocal prayers, 
and besought the nuns to obtain for her from God the know- 
ledge of the state in which He would have her to serve Him. 

Yet she shrank from the thought that the answer to their 
prayers might be a vocation to religion, so dark and cheerless 
.did the life of a nun still seem to her. But the Lord had laid 
His hand on her, and He used the gentle persuasions and wise 
counsels of her mistress to dispel the clouds which darkened 
her mind. 

* As I now began,' says she, * to take deHght in the good and 
holy conversation of this nun, I was pleased in hearing her 
fip^Jc so well on God, for she was a very pious and discreet 
person. As far as I remember, I was always pleased to hear 
her speak (on heavenly things). One day she began to tell 
me how she came to be a reUgious, which was by merely 
reading these words of the Gospel : " Many are called, but few 
are chosen." She spoke to me on the rewards our Lord will 
give those who leave all things to follow Him. Her good 
company soon began to banish all the habits evil company 
had led me into, and to bring back to my mind the desire of 
eternal things ; and also, in some degree, to divest me of that 
aversion I had to become a nun, which once was so very great. 
But now, if I saw anyone shed tears at her prayers, or per- 
ceived that she possessed other virtues, I envied her extremely, 
though, in this respect, my heart was so very bad, that were 
I even to read the whole history of our Saviour's passion, I 
.could not shed a tear : this gave me a great deal of pain.' 

Before she had been a year and a half in the convent, 
Teresa ,had made up her mind to be a nun, but not in that 



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10 Life of 8. Teresa. 

bonse. In the year 1533, she was attacked by a serious ill- 
ness, which obliged her to return to her father's house. She 
partially recovered, and Don Alonzo next sent her to visit her 
sister, Dona Maria, by whom she was tenderly loved. On her 
way thither she visited her uncle, Peter Sanchez de Cepeda^ 
a widower, who spent great part of his solitary life in prayer, 
and who, by his pious conversation, helped to confirm his 
niece in her holy resolution. Thence she went to the house of 
her sister, by whom, as well as by her husband, she was most 
cordially welcomed. On her return home, Teresa endured a 
terrible struggle of mind between her new convictions that 
Otod was calling her to religion, and the obstacles which arose 
to bar her way, especially the pain which she must give her 
feither should she carry these convictions into effect. 

She thus describes this conflict. * I was three months de^ 
bating with myself, and urging myself by reasons like these* 
The labours and sufferings of religion cannot be worse than the 
pains of Purgatory, but I have well deserved Hell ; it will be no 
great thing then for me to pass this short life in Purgatory, 
with the hope of passing fix)m it direct to Heaven. I think I 
was moved to choose the religious state rather by a certain 
kind of servile fear than, by love. The devil then represented 
to me that, having been so delicately nurtured in ease .and 
luxury, I should never be able to bear the austerities of 
religion, but I warded off this assault of the enemy by the 
consideration of the sufferings of Christ, and said to myself 
that it was no great thing to endure somewhat for His love 
which He would not fail to give me strength to bear ; great 
was the conflict which I endured in those few days. It 
brought on an attack of fever, with frequent fainting fits, for 
I had always been weak in health. I was consoled by reading 
good books, for which I had a great affection. I read the 
Epistles of S. Jerome with singular pleasure, and derived such 
courage therefrom that I determined to tell my design to my 
father, which was as much as to put on the habit, so punc- 
tilious was I as to keeping my word, that when I had once 
said a thing, no power on earth would make me unsay itfc 
But he loved me so much that it was impossible to obtain his 
consent ; and the entreaties of several other persons, who at 



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-Her Entrance vato Mdigion. 11 

my desire spoke to Tiim on my behalf, were equally unavailiiig. 
The utmost that could be obtamed was that after his death I 
should do as I liked. I was afraid of myself and my own 
weakness, lest it shonld make me swerve from my purpose, so 
that I determined not to wait for so long a time, but to find 
out some other way of accomplishing my desire.' 

Teresa chose the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation, 
just outside the walls of Avila, for the place of her rest. Her 
attention seems to have been drawn to this house by the fact 
of her intimate friend Jane Suarez being already there ; frora 
her report, as well as from the general estimation in which 
the convent was held, she judged that there she should be 
able to serve Grod with the perfection to which she aspired. 
A prophecy had preceded her thither as well as to her former 
convent. An unknown man came seeking treasure through- 
out the vast plain which surrounds the city of Avila, and 
when he came to the convent walls, he said to those who stood 
round him, ' A Saint shall come to dwell in this house whose 
name shall be Teresa.' When told of the prediction, she said 
playfully to another nun of the same name : * Which of us two 
shall be the Saint P ' Little did the humble novice dream 
when she asked the question, that the Church of God should 
one day ring with the answer. 

The time was now come for Teresa to put her purpose into 
execution. She had made known her intention to her 
friend Jane Suarez, who prepared the nuns to receive her ; 
and then, under the protection of her brother Antony, who, 
by her advice, was himself on the point of consecrating him- 
self to God iQ the order of S. Dominic, she left her father's 
house very early in the morning, a few days before the feast 
of All Saints, in the twenty-second year of her age, and took 
reftige in the Convent of the Incarnation. 

What she suffered in the separation from her beloved fother, 
and the rest of her kindred, she teUs us in her own forcible 
words. * I remember weU, and can afltan with truth, that 
when I left my father's house I felt such sorrow, that I do 
not think that the pains of death can be greater. It seemed 
as if my very bones were disjointed by the anguish I endured.' 
But the love of God within her ^eart was stronger than death 



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12 Life of 8. Teresa. 

or Hell, and no sooner was slie within the sacred enclosure 
than the storm passed away, having served bnt to make the 
mmshine of her first days in religion brighter. Her fiither's 
anger too was appeased as soon as he was convinced that her 
vocation came from God, and he gave his free consent to her 
receiving the holy habit on the Feast of All Souls, 1636, the 
very year in wluch Henry VIII. of England began his im- 
pious work of destruction, wherein many Carmelite houses 
perished in the universal wreck of religious foundations in 
England. 

No sooner had Teresa assumed the habit of her Heavenly 
Mother than all her difficulties and repugnance to the reli- 
gious life seemed to vanish. The austerity and stillness of the 
cloister, from which she had shrunk at a distance, were now 
sweet and welcome. The fervent novice made use of this 
time of freedom and joy of spirit to.correspoiM most diligently 
with the graces bestowed upon her. She made great pro- 
gress, and so deeply was her heart moved by meditation upon 
the perils of the world, and the exceeding love which had 
delivered her from them, that she obtained in that early period 
of her religious life a large measure of the gift of tears. 

She was most exact in all the duties of regular observance, 
and especially in the ceremonies of the choir, and she practised 
all the austerities permitted by obedience and the still delicate 
state of her health. But beyond all her other virtues, a 
prompt and tender charity towards her neighbour was con- 
spicuous. No office was either too great or too little for her to 
render joyftilly to her sisters. Whether it were to fold up 
their choir cloaks, to light them to their cells, or to perform 
for the sick — offices from which even the older and more 
experienced religious shrank — ^the young novice was ever first. 
We read that the life-long sufferings which she endured from 
illness were a reward, asked and granted, for the heroic 
charity of her noviciate. 

One of the nuns had suffered for many years under a sick- 
ness so dreadful that it was hard to find anyone charitable 
enough to remain with her. Teresa entreated to be allowed to 
nurse her, and watched over her as long as she lived, with the 
love of a daughter. 



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Trials J exterior and i/rderior. 13 

Our Lord rewaa:*ded this exercise of cliarity by the infusion 
of a larger measure of the same grace ; from admiring the 
patience of the sufferer she came to feel a holy envy of her 
sufferings, and a generous desire to have always something to 
suffer for Grod; and rising from desires to prayers, she 
besought Him to give her either the very sickness of this 
patient sister, or whatever other sufferings He should see 
fittest to send her. 

The Lord granted the prayer which He Himself had in- 
spired, and from that day forward Teresa was visited by 
various and acute bodily maladies, added to overwhelming 
spiritual desolation, which now took the place of the bright 
spring- tide of her early days in the convent. To all this was 
soon added a very trying kind of petty persecution on the part 
of some of tiie sisters. Ignorant of the supernatural source of 
the tears which she shed so abundantly, they accused her of 
melancholy and discontent ; others took umbrage at her ready 
courtesy and eagerness to help her sisters in their labours, 
which they set down to officiousness or eccentricity. 

This was a new trial to Teresa, who had been the darling 
and admiration of the loving hearts at home, and of the simple 
Augustinians, among whom she had dwelt so happily. It was 
a hard trial too to her, for her heart seems to have been pecu- 
liarly open to kindness, and, as a necessary consequence, alive 
to coldness and contempt. At first it was aU she could do to 
bear these false accusations silently ; but here again God gave 
grace for grace, and she soon learned to rejoice in them as 
another means of bringing her nearer to Him. She went on 
with a light heart in her course of devotion and charity ; but 
the devil had sharper weapons in store wherewith to shake 
her constancy. As the time of her profession drew near, he 
took advantage of a season of interior desolation, to suggest 
to her that she had made a great mistake in chposing the 
religious life, which, if persevered in, would be fatal to both 
body and soul. 

He represented to her that her continued attacks of sickness 
were a token from the hand of God that she was not in the 
position for which He intended her. It had never been so 
when she was at home, and he brought before her the bright- 



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14 Life of S. Teresa. 

ness and energy of spirit for whicli she had been remarkable 
in times gone by, and compared it with the oppressive feeling 
of languor and depression which she now cairied with her 
through all her convent life. Clearly she was out of her place, 
and our Lord was denying her the strength to bear a burden 
which she had laid unbidden upon her shoulders. And then 
she thought of the holiness of many a happy mother in the 
world, of her own, so fondly and reverently remembered, and 
of her sister, so much better in her peaceful and honoured 
home than she with her high aspirations and sad short-comings. 
!Many nuns lost their souls after all, and who so likely to do 
so as she P And so all this suffering would be thrown away. 
But here the tempter over-reached himself. If Teresa's weak- 
ness had lent him anns against her, her love of suffering had 
raised a shield in her defence. Better were it, said the heroic 
heart within, to suffer with and for her Lord, even in darkness 
and uncertainty as to the issue, than to choose the bright 
things of this world, in which He had dwelt as a sufferer and 
a wayfarer. To be despised and neglected was to be near to 
Him ; nor could she feel that she had come unbidden into His 
company, when she remembered how He had drawn her 
against her will into a state of life to which she had felt the 
greatest natural repugnance. 

The enemy, baffled of his aim, left her soul at last in peace, 
and Teresa made her solenm profession on November 3, 1537, 
with such overflowing joy and consolation as never left her 
memory all the days of her life. ' I know not how to contain 
myself,' she writes in her life, addressing herself to our Lord, 
* when I remember the day of my profession, the fineness of 
heart with which I made it, the consolation which I felt, and 
the espousals which your Majesty then contracted with me.* 



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15 



CHAPTER m. 
1637-1557. 

SEYEIIE ILLNESS AND SX7FF0SED DEATH OF lEBESA — HEB 
BECOYEBT BY THE INTEBCESSION OF S. JOSEPH— BELAXATION 
OF FEBVOTJB— DEATH OF ALONZO DE CEPEDA — TEBE8A BE- 
817HES THE FBACTICE OF MENTAL FBAYEB— LON& TBIALS, 

Fob nearly twenty years after Her religions profeBsion, Teresa's 
desire of snffering was Mfilled by an almost Tmintermpted 
course of sickness and pain. She became so ill immediately 
afber sbe made her yows that, at her father's earnest desire, 
she was allowed to leave the convent, with her chosen Mend 
Jane Suarez, to be placed nnder the care of a woman who was 
supposed to have great skill in the treatment of difficult cases. 
The custom of the time (abolished a few years afterwards by 
the Council of Trent) permitted nuns to leave their cloister 
npon occasions like this. Teresa at this time visited her 
sister, and the pious uncle whose conversation had before 
been of so much use to her. During this second visit he lent 
her a book by F. Francis Ossuna, a Franciscan, from which 
she derived great spiritual profit. She began to give herself 
to the exercise of the Presence of God, following the rules 
laid down in this book. It was at this time that our Lord first 
began to give her short glimpses of the supernatural states of 
prayer, which afterwards became habitual to her, and of 
which she discourses so admirably in the writings which have 
become a text-book with mystical theologians.* 

The remedies used by the old woman had no other effect 

but to aggravate the sufferings of the patient, who was at 

last reduced to such a state of exhaustion that Don Alonzo, 

fearing to trust her any longer in such hands, removed her 

* See Note A, at the end of volume. 



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16 Life of 8. Tei-esa. 

with her companion to Jiis house, and called in the aid of 
several skOfnl physicians, by whom her case was pronounced 
to be hopeless. 

This was about the middle of the month of August, 1539. 
As the Feast of the Assumption was approaching, Teresa 
earnestly begged that a confessor might be sent for, both to 
dispose her for a due celebration of that great festival of her 
blessed Mother, and to prepare her for death. But her father, 
wise and prudent man, and fervent CathoHc though he was, 
overcome by his fond affection for his child, refused to send 
for the priest for fear of agitating and fatiguing her. He 
soon, however, repented of his over caution, for on the very 
night of the feast Teresa was seized by a mortal paroxysm 
which lasted for four days. The unhappy father could not 
forgive himself for having refused the entreaty of his dying 
child, who was now incapable of receiving any sacrament but 
extreme unction. She was, indeed, supposed to be dead, and 
her grave was actually prepared in the Convent of the Incar- 
nation, and stood open for a day and a half. Her AuLeral 
oration was even pronounced in the church of the Carmelite 
Fathers, and some nuns from the Incarnation came, according 
to the custom of the time, to fetch home the body of their 
sister. They would certainly have buried her alive had not 
Don Alonzo interfered ; he knew by feeling her pulse that life 
had not yet departed, and said authoritatively, ' My daughter 
shall not be buried yet.' 

She had nearly, however, been brought to her grave by 
another accident. Laurence de Cepeda, her brother, of whom 
we shall hereafter have to make honourable mention, was . left 
to watch by her one night. He fell asleep ; and the flame of 
the candle, catching the bed-curtains, produced such a suffo- 
cating smoke as awoke him just in time to extinguish the 
fire before it reached his sister, who would else have been 
stifled or burnt without waking from her death-like trance. 

At the. end of the fourth day Teresa came to herself, and 
like one awaking from a deep sleep, looked at her weeping 
father and brother, and said, ' Why did you call me ? I was 
in Heaven, and I have also seen Hell. My father and Jane 
Suarez will be saved. I have seen the monasteries which I 



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Serr Health restored by 8. Joseph 17 

am to found. Many soiils will be eaved throngh my means. 
I shall die a Saint, and mj body will be wrapt in a covering 
of brocade.' 

Those who were present gazed at her in amazement, as on 
one returned from the dead to reveal the secrets of the world 
beyond the grave, and the eternal doom of those yet dwelling 
upon earth. Joy and wonder for a while kept them silent, but 
when they found words to speak, they repeated to the Saint, 
now fully restored to the use of her senses, what she had 
spoken in her ecstasy. A faint colour overspread her cheek 
at the thought of what had escaped her, and she tried to 
make light of it, as the wandering of delirium ; but she after- 
wards acknowledged to her confessor, and to some of the 
most trusted of her daughters, the reality of the vision, the 
truth of which, in its principal details, was proved by after 
events. 

But though restored to life, Teresa had three years more of 
severe suffering before her. She had patiently endured all the 
remedies pressed upon her, but now even her father was com- 
pelled unwillingly to acknowledge that human skill was un« 
availing for her relief, and he yielded to her earnest entreaty 
to be allowed to return to her convent. The religious who 
had come to carry home her corpse took her back more dead 
than alive; and for three more years she suffered under a 
compHcation of maladies, which made her a spectacle of com- 
passion and admiration to all the community, so excruciating 
were her sufferings, and so wonderful was the patience with 
which they were endured. 

What human remedies could not effect was given to the 
intercession of S. Teresa's chosen Patron, the glorious S. 
Joseph; and the health and vigour thus regained were de- 
voted, next to the service of God and our blessed Lady, to 
the promotion of the honour of the Foster Father of Jesus. 

Doubtless this devotion has lain deep in many a faithful 
heart from the first dawn of Christianity, for who could medi- 
tate upon the house of Nazareth, or worship the Babe of 
Bethlehem, without a gush of filial love towards him who 
shared the watching of Mary and guided the first steps of 
Jesus ? but, as an object of public and popular devotion, S. 



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18 Life of 8. Teresa. 

Josepli was little known until S. Teresa testified to the pre- 
railing might of his intercession, and pointed him out as the 
ready helper in the homeliest necessities of human life, as 
well as the guide and companion of the snblimest flights of 
contemplation, the especial Saint and Patron both of the 
common and the hidden life. 

Teresa had desired to be restored to health, chiefly that she 
might have greater facilities for prayer and recollection than 
she oonld enjoy amidst the distractions of the infirmary, and 
yet, strange to say, no sooner was she .free to give herself to 
BoHtade and recollection than she relaxed in her practices of 
devotion. The frequent intercourse with seculars is the cause 
to which she herself attributes this decay of ifervour. An 
undue license in iMa respect prevailed at that time in the 
convent. The elder nuns were little restricted in their visits 
to the parlour, and Teresa, from the high opinion entertained 
of her wisdom and prudence, was allowed to indulge in the 
same freedom. It was thought that the visitors could do her 
no harm, and might derive great good to their own souls from 
conversations, which were at first chiefly upon spiritual sub- 
jects, and which, though they sHd insensibly into a lighter 
tone, never degenerated into levity or detraction. There wad 
a charm in Teresa's conversation which attracted those who 
had known and loved her in the world ; and even strangers 
who knew her onlj by report came to pay her long and fre- 
quent visits; and her own openness of heart, and free and 
gentle courtesy, made her loth to place any restraint upon 
what was after all permitted by the custom of the house and 
•auctioned by superiors and directors. 

But capacious as was the heart of Teresa, it was not large 
enough to hold creatures and the Creator, and when she 
turned to her Lord in prayer, she found that there was a veil 
between her soul and Him. Instead of removing the occa- 
sion of this estrangement, she withdrew in false humility from 
the Divine Presence, and discontinued the practice of mental 
prayer as something too high for her present state. 

* This,' says the Saint, 'was a most subtle snare of the devil, 
who persuaded me that it was not for such as I was to 
approach so near to Qod, and that I had better go the common 



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Declension in Fervour. \9 

road, and content myself with saying vocal prayers and reciting 
the Divine office. The effect of this &Ise humility was most 
pemieiouB, for, as loi^ as I nsed mental prayer, if I offended 
God one day, I came to see that I had done so and accused 
myself of it before Him on the next.' 

And yet the picture drawn by the Saint of herself in these 
days of tepidity, over which she afterwards mourned so 
bitterly, might put many a Christian soul, whether religious 
or secular, to shame. She was most regular and prompt in 
observing the minutest point of rule, humble and gentle 
towards all with whom she conversed, and an enemy to every 
form of detraction ; she was so ready to do acts of kindness 
to her sisters as to be greatly beloved in the community. 
Although she had herself laid aside the exercise of mental 
prayer, she was most anxious to promote the practice in 
others, as if she desired to provide other worshippers in her 
stead ; and many a soul derived much benefit from her advice 
and instructions, even in this period of comparative distance 
firom God. 

She received a visit at this time from her pious father, 
who had been her disciple in the exercise of contemplation. 
He came to ask her to solve some difficulties which had 
occurred to his mind on the subject. With her wonted frank- 
ness, Teresa acknowledged that she no longer practised what 
he had found so profitable to his soxd, adding (what was 
doubtless true) that in the state of her health she found 
the exercises of the choir a sufficiently heavy burden. Don 
Alonzo does not seem to have questioned the sufficiency of 
her reasons. He was deeply grieved to find that she was still 
suffering so much, but after remaining a very short time in 
the parlour, he left her with words which, from the Hps of so 
loving a father, could not fail to sink into her heart : ' To talk 
longer together,' said he, * would be a loss of time.' He 
had touched unconsciously the real cause of her neglect of 
prayer. 

She received a still plainer lesson to the same effect from 
her Heavenly Father. As she was talking idly one day with 
an acquaintance at the convent-grate, she had a vision of our 
Lord bound to the pillar and covered with wounds. He looked 

c2 



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20 Life of 8. Teresa, 

at her witli a sad and reproachfril coimteiiance, whicli pierced 
her to the heart ; she woxdd fain have broken off at once the 
intiniacy which she felt to be displeasing to Hrm, but she 
wanted resolution, and was persuaded by the enemy of souls 
to attribute this vision, which she mentioned to no one, to his 
own agency. It was, however, so deeply imprinted on her 
mind, that twenty years afterwards, on the foundation of her 
first monastery at Avila, she caused an exact representation of 
it to be made, a copy of which was afterwards placed in the 
Convent of the Incarnation, on the exact spot where our Lord 
appeared to her, as a warning both to nuns and seculars, of 
the reserve and moderation in speech to be used by and with 
the spouses of Christ. 

Our Lord failed not to add internal remorse of conscience 
to the supernatural warning which was thus suffered to pass 
unheeded, in order to awake His servant from her lethargy, 
and arouse her to begin at once that high and generous courser 
of perfect detachment from creatures, to which it was His 
divine purpose to bring her in the end. She would ofben 
retom to her cell after a prolonged conversation with seculars 
at the grate, and pour forth bitter tears over her weakness 
and irresolution. The death of her pious father was the means 
of finally dispeUing the illusion which had enthralled her so 
long. Don Alonzo de Cepeda died the death of the just. 
His daughter, who in spite of her feeble health, hastened to his 
bed-side and tended him with dutiftd affection, has left us an 
account of his last moments. 

' This was indeed a death for which to give thanks to God. I 
cannot express his willingness to die, or repeat the wise counsels 
he gave us. After receiving extreme unction, how he charged 
us to recommend him to God, and to implore pardon for him^ 
never to slacken in the service of God, and to remember that 
all thmgs will hawe an end. He told us with tears how it 
grieved biTin now, that he had not served our Lord better ; and 
how he wished that he had entered some strict religious order. 
I beheve, assuredly, that God had revealed the day of his 
death to him a fortnight before it took place, for, before that 
time, he never seemed to think himself iU, but afterwards, 
although his physicians assured him that he was getting better, 



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Death of her Father. 21 

lie paid no heed to them, and attended to nothing but the 
affairs of his sonl. His principal ailment was a most acute 
pain in the shoulders. I said to him one day that, as he had 
always been so devout to the mystery of our Lord bearing His 
Cross, His Majesty had been pleased to give him some small 
portion of the pain which He had suffered therein, and this 
consideration so affected him that he was never afterwards 
heard to utter a complaint. He was three days dehrious, and 
then the Lord restored his senses to him, so that we all mar- 
velled, and as he was reciting the creed he expired. His face 
was beautiM afber death as that of an angel, and it seemed to 
me that such also was his soul and its dispositions* I know 
not why I have written this, except it be to condemn my own 
perverseness, that, having seen such a death and known such 
a hfe, I. have never learned to grow better by the example of 
such a father. His confessor (F. Baron), a very learned man 
of the order of S. Dominic, who had directed him for many 
years, and knew the purity of his conscience, felt assured that 
he went straight to Heaven.* 

The consideration of the holiness attained by her father iu 
his secular state, with its lower graces and Hghter obligations, 
incited Teresa to attempt in good earnest to follow his example. 
She made her confession to his director, who discovered and 
exposed to her the snare of false humility in which she had 
been entangled, and which had caused her to lay aside mental 
prayer. 'The soul,* said he, 'which neglects prayer in the 
midst of the darkness of this life, is like a man, who, travelling 
by night on the edge of a precipice, shoxdd put out his lantern 
or depart from his guide. When our Lord bade us to pray 
always and not to faint, He laid down the importance of 
prayer for aU states and conditions of men.* Teresa, in 
obedience to the counsels of this experienced director, at once 
resumed the exercise of mental prayer, and persevered in it 
with unflagging patience and courage, through every vicissitude 
of painfril aridity and overflowing consolation, until the day 
of her death. 

She was now about thirty, and for the next twelve years 
her life is described by one of her confessors as a long struggle 
with temptations, arising partly from the consequences of the 



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22 Life of S. Teresa. 

exterior conversatioiis in which she had for a time indxdged, 
but still more from a fiery trial by which the Lord was pleased 
to purify her soul. She had turned away at last from 
creatures, and now it seemed that the Creator was turmng 
Himself away from her. Many and many a time, as she tells 
us herself, had she to drag herself to the oratory, feeling that 
no torture or martyrdom would be so hard to her as prayer. 
She would gaze wearily at the hour-glass, and long for the 
appelated time to be over. But she faltered not, she remarued 
motionless as a statue in her Ix)rd's presence, waiting till He 
should breathe the breath of life into her soul. She knew, as 
she says herself, that He alone could give her this life, that 
she could do nothing of herself to obtain it, and that He who 
alone could give it had every reason in the world to withhold 
it from her, seeing that He had so often drawn her to tTimself, 
and she had so often resisted His attractions. This desolation 
of spirit, although the consequence of her unfaithfolness to 
grace, became also its remedy, and laid the foundation in that 
heroic soul of a perfection in patience, resignation, poverty of 
spirit and detachment from all consolation, whether human or 
Divine, which has made her the teacher and the model of all 
who since her day have trodden the steep way of the perfect 
life. To throw her more absolutely upon TTi> own all-sufficient 
guidance, the Holy Spirit seems to have withheld from her 
confessors the light needftd for directing such a soul, so that 
they became the instruments of some of her severest sufferings. 
And all this mental anguish was endured by a frame weakened 
by illness, and worn by continual pain ; for although, by the 
intercession of her glorious Patron S. Joseph, she had been so 
far restored to health as to be able to rise from her bed and 
follow the ordinary exercises of the community, she remained 
subject till the very end of her life to many distressing 
ailments, amongst tiie rest to an habitual sickness every 
morning, which prevented her taking food until late in the 
day. 

In the face of all these obstacles Teresa steadily pursued her 
upward way, taking the most scrupulous care never to offend 
the God whose face was still hidden from her, and observing 
^with the greatest exactness every most minute point of tb© 



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ReTwwal of Fervour. 23 

rule. She tells us herself that she was never weary of speak- 
ing of Grod, or of hearing others speak of Him ; and she 
eagerly seized every opportunity of hearing His holy word 
even from the lips of preachers fr^m whom others thought 
that they could gain no benefit. He rewarded her fidelity by 
fresh infrisions of grace, by the Hght of which she grew 
daily in self-knowledge and humihty ; recollection became 
more easy to her, solitude more delightful, and her desires 
after divine things more eager and efficacious, till she attained 
at last to that perfect conversion of which we have now to 
speak. 



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24 Life of 8. Teresa. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1557. 

s. Teresa's perfect conversion to god — supernatural 

GIPT op prater — ^HBR FEAR OP BEING DELUDED — CONSULTS 
DON FRANCIS SALCEDO AND MASTER DAZA — THEIR OPINION 
THAT SHE IS UNDER A DIABOLICAL DELUSION — OUR LORD RE- 
ASSURES HER. 

It was in the year 1557, and in the forty-third year of her age, 
that our Lord waiis pleased to reward the patient fidelity of 
Teresa nnder this long trial of bodily suffering and spiritual 
desolation, by raising her to that state of supernatural prayer 
and close union with Himself, in which she persevered, in 
ever increasing perfection, until death. 

It happened one day, as she entered the convent chapel, 
that her eyes fell upon a picture which had been lent for the 
celebration of some approaching festival. It represented our 
Divine Lord as He was presented by Pilate to the enraged 
populace, wearing the crovm of thorns and the purple robe. 
An intense feeling of sorrow and compunction thrilled through 
Teresa^s heart at that woefdl spectacle. *My heart,* she 
writes herself, ' seemed breaking at the sight of these wounds, 
and at the thought of how evil a return I had made for so 
much love. Casting myself at the feet of our Lord, I 
besought Him vnih. an abundance of tears to give me grace 
never more to offend Him.' She turned to S. Mary Magdalen, 
to whom she had a special devotion, and whose conversion 
had long been a frequent subject of meditation with her, 
particularly before holy Communion: *0 blessed penitent,* 
she cried, * your sins were light in comparison with mine. 
You were a sinner in the city amongst sinners ; I have been 



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Beads 8. Auguatin^s Confessions* 25 

a sinner in the convent amongst Saints. Yon offended TTim 
Whom yon knew not; I have offended the God Who has 
heaped favours upon me. Yon were called but once, and yon 
instantly obeyed the call; I, heedless both of fisbvonrs and 
chastisements, have daily and with increasing stnbbomess 
resisted repeated invitations. I cry to yon for help. Oh ! be 
yon my protectress.' Then turning in utter self-distrust, and 
strong confidence in Him, to her Divine Spouse, she said: 
* Lord, I will never leave Thee till Thou hast granted me the 
flavour I implore/ 

From that day, she tells us, her soul began to amend. 

Her courage and compunction were increased by a remark- 
able providential circumstance which shortly afterwards 
occurred* The Confessions of S. Augustine, which she had 
never before seen, were given to her to read, without her 
having asked for or thought of them. As she read, her heart 
seemed changed within her, while the very conflict she was 
experiencing in herself was presented before her, as in a 
mirror, in the example of the Saint whose intercession she now 
began most earnestly to implore. At last she came to the 
passage in which he relates his conversion at the sound of the 
voice which called him while he was sitting under a tree. 
The same words seemed now to echo within the heart of 
Teresa. ^Take a/nd ready take and read,* She melted into 
tears, and began to repeat over and over again those touching 
words of Augustine, ' How long, Lord, how long ? To-^morrow, 
Lard ? Why not to-day ? Why should not to-day put ant end 
to my baseness ? * Such was the internal conflict and agony 
which she endured at this time, that on looking back upon it 
in after years, she wondered how she had ever survived it. 
But the death-struggle issued in a new and victorious 
life. From that moment, fresh fervour and a more intense 
desire of perfection were impressed on her soul. . She grew 
in love of retirement and of the holy presCTice of God, 
spending long hours in prayer, and scrupulously avoiding the 
slightest offence against Him. In the same measure as she 
increased in the knowledge and love of God did she descend 
deeper and deeper into the sense and detestation of her own 
sinftilnesB and misery. She believed that she was unworth;^ 



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26 Life of 8. Teresa. 

even to tread the earth, and that all creatures ought to arm 
themselves agamst her, to avenge their insulted Creator. No 
penance seemed adequate to expiate her offences ; she could 
only offer herself to her offended God, and ask Him to inflict 
upon her such vengeance as she deserved. 

Teresa, be it observed, according to the testimony of the 
directors of her conscience, had never committed a mortal sin. 
The intensity of this anguish and remorse was excited simply 
by an aroused consciousness of the guilt, and ingratitude of 
her want of correspondence with grace. Neither was it an 
exaggerated view of the case. The Spirit of truth, from whom 
such convictions of sin proceed, shows the awakened soul 
nothing more than the truth ; a truth which seems exaggerated 
to us, only because it is mercifully veiled &om eyes not suffi- 
ciently pure and single to behold it without despair. 

From this crisis in her spiritual life, Teresa arose another 
l)eing from her former self. She seemed to herself to dwell in 
another world, and to live a new life, with a new understanding 
and a new will. The love of God, wherewith she was now 
inflamed, was something unprecedented and extraordinary. 
'From this time,* she writes in the history of her Hfe, *I 
opened a new book, i.e. I began a new life. That which I had 
lived hitherto was my own ; but that which I have Hved since, 
I may say, has been God's ; for, as it seems to me, God has 
lived in me. It would have been impossible for me to deliver 
myself in so short a time from so many evil works and sinfril 
habits. May our Lord be praised, Who has delivered me from 
myself ! For as I began to remove the occasions of sin, and 
to give myself more earnestly to prayer, our Lord began to 
bestow more graces upon me as He saw me more willing to 
receive them. £Qs Majesty now began to give me almost 
always the prayer of quiet, and sometimes that of union, which 
would continue for a considerable space of time together.' 

The sweetness of these Divine consolations was attended, 
however, by a new form of suffering, a horrible dread lest shei 
should be under a diabolical delusion. Several causes con- 
cuired to suggest this fear to her mind. First, her humility, 
which led her to account herself a most unlikely subject for 
supernatural favours. Secondly, the mode of these celesticd 



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Fecvr of being deluded, 27 

communicatioiis, dnring wliich the operatioiis of the nnder- 
standing remained suspended, the soxd being wholly absorbed 
in the contemplation of heavenly things. This she feared 
might be an artifice of the devil, seeking to turn her away from 
her habitual meditation on the Passion of our Lord. Her fears 
were aggravated by the fact that several poor miserable women 
had been lately thus deluded, amongst others a certain Mag^ 
dalen of the Gross, whose case had inspired her with great 
terror. 

As long as she continued in prayer she was free from these 
perplexing thoughts, but no sooner was she engaged in exterior 
occupations of any kind than they returned to overwhelm 
her. She looked round in vain for some one well versed 
in the spiritual life, to whom she might unburden her trouble. 
The Fathers of the Society of Jesus had lately founded 
a house at Avila, but she would have accounted it to be a 
singular boldness and indiscretion in a weak and sinful 
woman Hke herself, to seek counsel or guidance from men so 
learned and so saintly as they were held to be. She set herself 
first then to the task of correcting h^r slightest faults, aiming 
at an exceeding purity of conscience, removing the least 
remaining attachment to earthly things, and bringing into a 
severe captivity the most innocent impulses of her heart. 
And so with a courageous humility she held on her unaided 
course. * K this spirit be of God,' said she to herself, * it is 
clear that it can bring me nothiug but good ; if it be from the 
devil, so long as I can please our Lord and keep clear from 
offending Him, it can bring me little harm, or rather the evil 
one will have the worst of it.' 

Still, as the Divine fibvours continued to increase in measure 
and in frequency, Teresa's anxiety returned, and she deter- 
mined to seek a director. With this view she consxdted a 
kinsman of her own then Hving at Avila, a pious layman 
named Don Francis Salcedo, whom she was accustomed to 
call * the holy knight,' and who, although married, led such a 
life in the secular state as to prove that perfection is not con- 
fined to the cloister. 

*This gentleman,' says S. Teresa, *was married, but his 
life was so exemplary and virtuous, and so charitable was he 



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28 Life of S. Teresa. 

and given to prayer, tliat all men admired his goodness and 
perfection ; and with reason, because many souls obtained 
great good throngh his means. He had an excellent under- 
standing, and was mild and kind to everyone ; his conversation 
was never wearisome, but so sweet and agreeable, as weU as 
just and holy, as to delight all who spoke with him; he 
directed all things for the greater good of those souls with 
whom he conversed ; and, indeed, he seemed to have no other 
aim or desire but to do good and give pleasure to everyone by 
all the means in his power. Now I do believe that this holy 
and blessed man, by his care and attention, was chiefly in- 
strumental in the salvation of my soul. I am astonished at 
his humility in wishing to see me, for I think he had spent 
little less than forty years in the practice of mental prayer, 
and he led a life of the highest perfection possible in his state 
of life. His wife was also a great servant of God, and so 
charitable that she was a help rather than a hindrance to him. 
Indeed, it seemed that God had chosen her for his wife as one 
whom He knew to be a flt companion for so great an example 
of fidelity in His service. Some of his kindred were married 
to relations of mine.' 

Don Francis reconmiended Teresa to consult a priest of 
great reputation for sanctity and learning, named Gaspar 
Daza, who, although he declined to undertake the office of 
her confessor, gave her such advice and instructions as he 
deemed suited to her case. The event proved, however, that, 
whatever may have been ihe amount of Gaspar Daza's spiritual 
discernment, it was not equal to the direction of such a soul 
as Teresa's. He was for making her a saint in a moment, 
and freeing her at once from all the imperfections which, in 
the transparent simplicity of her character, she unfolded to 
him. The remedies he proposed to her were hard, and indeed 
impracticable. ' I soon found,' she says, * that the mode of 
cure which he pointed out to me was not suited to my malady.' 
Such a method of treatment was indeed calculated to do such 
a soul more harm than good, as it seemed only to discourage 
her. * Indeed,' she continues, ' if I had never been able to 
consult any other director, I think I should never have gained 
any benefit to my soul, because the grief which I felt at 



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Eer Fea/r9 increased by her Friends. 29 

« 

finding that I did not, and conld not, do as lie enjoined me, 
was enough to cause me to lose all hope, and give np eveiy- 
thing as useless.' 

Her good friend, Salcedo, did what he could to comfort and 
encourage her under the rigorism of her director, and his 
visits were at this time her only earthly consolation — a con- 
solation, however, which she was not long to enjoy. Our 
Lord would have TTi> faithftd servant to find comfort in Him- 
self alone. As Don Francis came to know more of the 
extraordinary favours vouchsafed to her, and heard at the 
same time of the many imperfections of which, in her hunulity, 
she believed herself guilty, and which, with her accustomed 
candour, she fully detailed to him, the good knight took alarm 
and came to the same conclusion with Caspar Daza, that such 
graces and such imperfections could scarcely coexist together, 
and therefore that the supposed illuminations nmst be delusions 
of the enemy of souls. 

Being, however, sincerely desirous of giving assistance and 
consolation to her troubled spirit, he suggested to her to put 
in writing a succinct account of the extraordinary graces 
which she received in prayer, as well as of her mode of making 
it, that he might show it to Master Daza, and that thus they 
might be able to weigh the subject more maturely and at 
leisure. 

This was a fresh trouble to Teresa, who being wholly un- 
versed in the language of mystical theology, had no words to 
express the wonders wrought within her. Divine Providence, 
however, threw at this time in her way a book called the 
Ascent to Motmt Sion, written by a Franciscan lay-brother, in 
which she found described the very method of prayer which 
she was accustomed to exercise, especially that suspension of 
the wnderstandmg which had given such umbrage to her 
advisers. Greatly relieved to have found such a ftiU descrip-* 
tion of what she had herself been unable adequately to 
jBxpress, Teresa underlined the passages which bore upon her 
case, wrote as clear a statement as she could of her faults, to- 
gether with a short narrative of her life, and sent the paper and 
the book to Salcedo, begging him to lay them before Master 
Daza^ and to give her the result of their united judgment. 



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30 Life of 8. Teresa. 

She awaited their decision with no Kttle anxiety, earnestly 
beseeching the Lord in the meanwhile to give them light to 
see the truth. Having conferred long and seriously on this 
perplexing matter, the two judges came to the decision that 
all these extraordinary things were wrought by the devil, with 
intent to delude Teresa herself, and all who should give credit 
to her words. They gave their decision with all earnestness, 
and with a sincere desire for her spiritual good ; nor did they 
lack reasons of apparent weight to support it. In the first 
place, the statement of Teresa herself^ which dwelt so fvJlj 
and emphatically upon her defects, and so coldly and cursorily 
upon her virtues, would have led anyone who had not 
fathomed the depth of her humility to a very mistaken esti- 
mate of her character. Secondly, there was the noted 
example of the miserable Magdalen of the Gross to scare well- 
regulated pity from all extraordinary ways. And, thirdly, 
there was a certain holy woman in those days at Avila, by 
name Maria Diaz, to whose mode and measure of sanctity 
Teresa's two friends clung with pertinacious and somewhat 
superstitious admiration. Maria Diaz gave all her substance 
to feed the poor. Maria Diaz found her only consolation in the 
presence of the Blessed Sacrament, her Neighhov/r^ in her own 
quaint and sweet words. Maria Diaz lived a most pure and 
holy life, in the midst of the dangers of the world ; yet Maria 
Diaz received no extraordinary graces, was favoured by no 
supernatural gifts of prayer. Was it likely that one so ftill of 
imperfections should be preferred before Maria Diaz ? Alas I 
for the human prudence even of good and spiritual men, when 
it takes to gauging and measuring the gifts of God, and 
marshalling the rank and order of His servants by the narrow 
rules of its own heraldry ! How many of its decisions will be 
reversed at the Great Day, when account will be taken noti. 
only of the fruit which has been visible to the eye of man, but 
of the patient toil of the husbandry which produced it ; a 
labour known only to Him by whose grace the work has been 
carried to perfection ! 

Salcedo brought Teresa the heavy tidings that both the 
examiners agreed in the opinion that she was labouring under 
a diabolical delusion. They added one wise suggestion, that 



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She is consoled by an Interior Voice. 31 

she should make & Ml and minute statement of her case to 
some member of the Society of Jesus, who were held to have 
deep experience in spiritual matters. She was advised to make 
a general confession to one of these Fathers, that by the 
grace of the Sacrament of Penance, he might receive greater 
light and knowledge for her direction. The anguish of 
Teresa's mind may be conceived at hearing the united judg- 
ment of two men whom she so highly respected, but it can 
scarcely be duly estimated except by souls endued with love 
like hers. That she should have been the sport of a lying 
spirit, while her most inward convictions attested that she was 
following the guidance of the Spirit of Truth, was grievous 
and heart-breaking to hear ; and yet her humility forbade her 
to question their decision. 

In this strait, when she could find no help from man, our 
Lord Himself came to her assistance. As she was reciting her 
office, when she came to this verse of the 118th Psalm, * Just 
art Thou, Lord, and right is Thy judgment,* she began to 
consider how it was that the Lord, who is most right and just 
in His judgments, came to bestow such graces and favours 
upon her, which He did not vouchsafe to other souls far more 
faithful to Him. Our Lord then, for the first time, was 
pleased to speak to her by an interior voice: * Serve thou 
Me,' said He, *and seek not to enquire into these things.' 
' These were the first words,' continued the Saint, addressing 
our Lord, ' which I ever heard Thee speak to me, and I was 
greatly astonished thereat.' The consolation, however, equalled 
her amazement, and was increased shortly afterwards by 
reading the following words in a spiritual book : * God is 
faithful, and will never suffer arvy soul that truly loves Hvm to he 
deluded hy the deviV Teresa felt in her inmost heart that she 
truly loved God, and had placed her whole trust in Him. How 
could she faU to be comforted by these words ? 



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32 Life of S. Teresa. 



CHAPTER V. 
1557. 

fi. TEBESA ASKS COTWSEL OF THE FATHERS OF THE SOCIETY OF 
JBSXJS — ^F. J. DE PRADANOS AND S. F. BORGIA BOTH ENCOITRAGE 
HER — DO&A GinOMAR d'tJLLOA — F. BALTHA8AR ALVAREZ BE- 
COMES HER DIRECTOR — Dn:BRIOR COITPLICTS TERMINATINO TS 
GREAT PEACE AIH) FREEDOM OF SOUL — ^HER THANKFULNESS 
FOR HER DELIVERANCE. 

In order to free herself from the fears and perplexities which 
returned ever and anon to disturb her peace, Teresa at last 
overcame her repugnance to ask aid of the sons of S. Ignatius, 
So great was the reputation of the new order for sanctity, that 
she not only accounted it a presumption to intrude herself 
upon such holy men, but dreaded that it should be known to 
her sisters in religion, fearing lest they should conceive a high 
idea of her holiness were they to know that she was in com- 
munication with the Fathers of the company of Jesus. When 
therefore her good friend Francis de Salcedo had obtained a 
Jesuit confessor for her, the Portress and Sacristan were 
strictly charged to say nothing to any of the reUgious of his 
coming. Her precautions were, however, in vain, for it so 
happened that a single nun was at the door when F. John 
Pradanos entered it ; and, as her biographer drily remarks, 
* it was enough that one nun knew that Dona Teresa wished 
to speak to a Jesuit for all the rest of the communiiy to kno^ 
it immediately.* 

The strength and consolation which Teresa derived from the 
counsels of this good Father abundantly compensated for this 
little vexation. He encouraged her to perseverance, and to 
gratefrd correspondence with the Divine favours bestowed 
upon her, adding with something of a prophetic spirit : * Who 



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Fruits of the New System of Dvrection. 33 

Icnows but that Gt)d designs to make use of you for the spiritual 
good of many ? ' He bade her give herself more assiduously 
than ever to penance and mortification, and directed her to 
meditate daily upon some point of the Passion of Christ, and 
never in her prayer to lose sight of Hig Sacred Humanity. He 
also directed her to resist with all her might the sweetnesses 
and consolations which she experienced. 

Overjoyed at having at last met with a guide who could 
understand and direct her, Teresa set herself with the whole 
ardour of her generous soul to carry out his directions to the 
letter. She felt the same ardent desire which in her child- 
hood had impelled her to seek martyrdom, to shed all her 
blood for Him who had shed aU His for her ; and finding no 
persecutor's sword to immolate her, she made a living victim 
of her body by the use of the severest macerations. Notwith- 
standing the extreme delicacy of her health, she wore at this 
time a rough hair shirt, and disciplined herself with bunches 
of nettles, and often with heavy iron keys. She strewed her 
bed with thorns ; such indeed was her thirst for suffering that, 
we are told, she would have torn herself to pieces had Grod 
permitted it. There was only one part of the instructions of 
her confessor which she found it difficult, or rather impossible, 
to put in practice — ^his injunction to resist the Divine favours 
which were showered upon her. 

' After this confession,' she tells us, * my soul became so 
tractable, that it seemed to me there was nothing which I was 
not ready to do ; and so I soon began to change in many 
things, though my director did not press me much, but rather 
seemed to make little account of everything. This treatment 
had the more effect upon me, because he guided me by the 
way of the love of God ; leaving me at liberty, and under no 
constraint but that of love. In the meantime, I continued for 
almost two months using every means in my power to resist 
the favours and caresses of God. :A change was perceptible 
in my outward conduct, because our Lord already began to 
give me courage to do certain things, which those who knew 
me, and especially the religious of the convent, considered 
excessive ; and they were right, considering what I was before, 
though I still fell far short of what my habit and profession 

D 



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34 Life of S. Teresa. 

required of me. Bj resisting the caresses of our Lord, I 
learned an excellent lesson from His Majesty ; for before tliis 
time I always thought that to prepare myself for receiving 
these favours in prayer, I must shut myself in a comer, as it 
were, so that I dared hardly stir. Now, however, I perceived 
that this was of little importance, for the more I endeavoured 
to resist, the more did our Lord overwhelm me with sweetness 
and overshadow me with His glory. I took so much pains in 
resisting that it was quite a torture to me ; and yet the more 
I resisted, the greater favours did our Lord bestow upon me 
and the more clearly did He manifest Himself to me, during 
those two months, in order that I might understand that it 
was not in my power to resist Him. And now my love for 
the most Sacred Humanity of our Lord began to revive ; and 
my prayers began to attain sohdity, like a building which rests 
upon a strong foundation. I also felt more inclined to do 
penance, which I had neglected on account of my infirmities. 
But this holy confessor told me that some penances would do 
me no harm ; that God had perhaps afflicted me so much be- 
cause I did not wish to afflict myself. He conamanded me 
also to perform certain acts of mortification, which were not 
at all to my taste, still I performed them all, knowing that 
our Lord Himself had conmianded them by His minister ; and 
His Majesty gave him grace so to direct me that I felt it easy 
to obey him. My soul now began to feel every offence, how- 
ever small it might be, which I conmiitted against God ; and 
this to such a degree, that if I wore anything superfluous about 
me, I was unable to recollect myself until I had cast it off. 
I prayed much to our Lord that He would keep his hand upon 
me, and that since I conversed with His servants. He would 
not permit me to fall back again, for I thought that would 
indeed be a great offence, and that they might lose their good 
name on my account.* 

Soon after her interview with F. Pradanos, Teresa was per- 
mitted to lay open the state of her soul to S. Francis Borgia, 
who some years before had abandoned the world and resigned 
the dukedom of Gttndia to enter the Society of Jesus. Her 
confessor, and also Don F. Salcedo, wished her to speak to this 
father, and give him an account of her manner of prayer, 



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S. Francis Borgia. 35 

knowing tliat lie was already far advanced in the spiritual life. 
* When Father Francis/ says the Saint, *had heard me, he 
told me that my prayer came from the Spirit of God, and that 
it was his opinion I should no longer resist His favours, though 
till then he thought I had done right in so doing. He recom- 
mended me likewise always to begin my prayer by meditating 
on some part of the Passion, and that if afterwards our Lord 
should raise my soul to a supernatural state, I should not resist, 
but suffer His Majesty to carry it away, provided, however, I 
did not endeavour to procure the rapture. Being far advanced 
himself in this way, he gave both mediciue and advice ; for iu 
such mattersN experience is very important. He told me also 
that it would be an error to resist any longer. These words 
consoled me greatly, as well as the gentleman ; for he rejoiced 
exceedingly to hear Father Borgia say that my prayer came 
from God, so he continued to assist me, and gave me advice 
to the best of his power, which was very great.' 

F. Pradanos was shortly afterwards removed by his supe- 
riors, to the great aflSiction of his penitent. ' It troubled me 
much,' she says, * for I thought I should become wicked again ; 
and it seemed impossible to find another like him. My soul 
appeared to be dwelling in a desert, so very sad and fearfnl 
was I ; I knew not what to do with myself.' But our Lord 
had provided a substitute. A relation of Teresa, whose 
house was near that of the Jesuits, took her home with her ; 
in order that she might find another confessor belonging to 
the Society. * She induced me,' says the saint, ' to confess to 
her own director ' (F. Balthasar Alvarez), * and I remained for 
some days in her house, for she Uved near me. I was de- 
hghted to be able ofben to converse with those fathers, for the 
mere knowledge of the sanctity of their conversation was a 
great advantage to my soul.' Teresa thus describes the gentle 
and prudent direction of this holy man. ' This father began 
to put me in the way of greater perfection, telling me that I 
should omit doing nothing by which I might give the greatest 
pleasure to God. This he told me with great prudence and 
sweetness, for my soul was not yet strong in anything, but 
very tender, especially in giving up certain friendships which 
I had then formed ; for though I did not thereby offend God, 

d2 



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36 Life of S. Teresa. 

yet the aflTection I liad for the persons was very great, and it 
seemed ungrateftd in me to break off their firiendship, and so I 
told him that since onr Lord was not offended thereby, I did 
not see why I shonld become nngrateftd. He replied, that 
I shonld do well to recommend the matter to God for some 
days, and to recite the hymn Yeni Creator^ that so the Holy 
Ghost might enlighten me to do what was best. Having 
tiien one day prayed for a long time, and hnmbly besought 
our Lord to help me to please Him in aU things, I began to 
recite the hymn ; and while I was saying it a rapture came 
on me which almost carried me out of myself. It was sudden, 
but so manifest that I could not doubt it ; it was also the first 
time our Lord granted me this favour: then I heard these 
words : "J will have thee no longer to converse with men^ hut 
with angels .' " I was much amazed at this occurrence, for the 
commotion of my soul was great ; and these words were 
spoken to me in the very interior of my heart, so that they 
made me afiraid, though, on the other hand, they gave me 
great consolation, which remained with me after my fears had 
left me ; and this fear had, in my opinion, been produced by 
the strange novelty of the ecstasy. These words have been 
strictly accomplished ; for never afberwards have I been able 
to form any fiiendship, nor to feel any consolation, or parti- 
cular love for anyone, except for those persons who I knew 
ardently loved Gt)d, and strove generously to serve Him. Nor 
is it now in my power, neither does it matter whether any of 
these be Mends or relations ; for if I find that this or that 
person is not a servant of God, and not given to prayer, it is a 
heavy cross for me to speak with him. This is the very truth, 
as far as I can judge. From that day I have remained ftdl of 
courage and resolution to abandon all things for God, as if He 
had been pleased in that moment (and it seemed to be no 
more than a moment) to make His servant become quite 
another creature. Thus there was no longer any necessiiy to 
command me in this respect ; for when my confessor found 
me at first so determined, he did not venture expressly to tell 
me I should do it. He waited till our Lord should be pleased 
to do it Himself, as He did indeed. And never did I imagine 
I should succeed ; for abeady I had used some endeavours for 



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*«^.J1IL.*«J 



Dona Quiomar dPUlloa. 37 

this purpose, and so great was the afflictioii I endured therein, 
that I resolved to give up the attempt as inexpedient. Bnt 
now our Lord gave me both liberty and power to put it in 
execution. This circumstance I told to my confessor, and I 
gave up everything as he had recommended me. It did him 
no little good, whom I had consulted, to behold what a 
resolution I had taken. May Gt)d be praised for ever, who 
gave me in a moment that power and liberty which before I 
had not been able to procure with all the diligence I had used 
for many years, for I had so often exerted aJl my strength, 
that my health was thereby much injured. But as He has 
accomplished it, who is aU powerfiil and truly the Lord of all 
things, I now suffer no pain whatever.' 

It was at this time that S. Teresa, having broken through 
so many bonds which attached her to earth, formed a holy and 
enduring friendship with another penitent of Father Alvarez, 
DoSa Gruiomar d'Ulloa. This holy woman was descended 
from one of the most noble and pious families of Toro. Her 
parents were Peter d'Ulloa, governor of that city, and Aldonza 
de Guzman d'Avila. 

Her holy mother, who early became a widow, educated her 
with the greatest care. She was married to Don Francis 
d'Avila, of the noble house of Sobralejo ; but Gh>d, who had a 
higher vocation in store for her, quickly freed her from this 
tie by the death of her husband. It seems as though such a 
loss might have revealed to her at once the vaniiy of all 
passing things, and have separated her for ever frt)m the 
world. Such, however, was .not the case. Possessing those 
exterior attractions which the world loves and admires, she 
delighted to appear in society, where she shone as one of its 
most brilliant ornaments. It was lefb for Balthasar Alvarez 
to draw the veil from her eyes, and to show her the nothing- 
ness of aU things here below. Under his direction she at 
once renounced worldly vanities, dress, and society, and gave 
herself up entirely to the service of our Lord. 

Despising frt)m this time all luxury and outward show, she 
retained only such servants as were absolutely necessary, and 
led a simple and retired life, consecrating her days chiefly to 
prayer and good works, and thus merited to obtain from out 



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38 Life of 8. Teresa. 

Lord those higlier graces which He bestows on those who, for 
love of Him, cast away as worthless all the joys and pleasures 
of this world, and find their happiness in Him alone. 

Father Balthasar Alvarez, who now undertook the guidance 
of S. Teresa, continued to direct her for seven years of the 
most important and trying period of her Hfe, comprehend- 
ing the four years preceding the foundation of S. Joseph's at 
Avila, and the three which immediately followed it. It was 
during this time that the Saint received the greater part of 
those marvellous graces which she relates in her life. 

Whilst occupied in laying the foundation of the reform of 
Carmel, the encouragement and sympathy of Father Bal- 
thasar were a great support and comfort, in^the midst of the 
storm which in consequence raged around her ; nor was this 
all, he helped her also in the formation of the constitutions 
which she gave to her rehgious. Indeed, the Saint said of hinn^ 
*In this world. Father Balthasar Alvarez is the person to 
whom my soul owes the most, and who has been the greatest 
help to me in advancing on the road to perfection.' 

It pleased our Lord to reveal to her the treasures of grace 
with which he had enriched the soul of' this holy man. One 
day she saw him at the altar with a crown of glory surround- 
ing his head, a symbol of the burning love with which he was 
offering up the Sacred Victim. This supernatural knowledge 
of the Saint led her to write of him in these words : * God gave 
him a special grace to discern the truth of every matter, and 
I am convinced that it was from the Blessed Sacrament of the 
Altar that he imbibed this wonderftil light.' 

Her Divine Master not only showed S. Teresa the holiness 
of His servant whilst on earth, but also revealed to her the 
glory he would one day enjoy in heaven, and it was His will 
that she should make known to the holy man the certainty of 
his eternal salvation. 

One day when Father Balthasar Alvarez was much agi- 
tated by a grievous temptation, a doubt as to his final per- 
severance and the salvation of his soul, S. Teresa, who knew 
by a supernatural hght what was passing within him, threw 
herself at the feet of our Lord, imploring Him to come to the 
aid of His servant. Her Divine Master granted even more 



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F. Balthasar Alvarez. 39 

tlmn she asked, revealing to her, not only the salvation of 
Father Alvarez, but also the glorious place prepared for him 
in heaven, making known to her that he was elevated to such 
a height of perfection, that at that time there was no soul on 
earth which surpassed his in holiness ; and that the glory which 
he would one day enjoy in heaven would be in proportion to 
his high perfection on earth. After this she told Father 
Balthasar Alvarez that he might be comforted, because the 
Lord had revealed to her the certainty of his salvation. 

And yet the very virtues of Father Alvarez, and the low 
estimation in which he held his own judgment and discernment, 
served to increase and prolong the sufferings of his saintly 
penitent. The storm, which had been laid for awhile by the 
favourable decision of S. Francis Borgia, soon swelled again 
in its former ftiry. Father Alvarez, whether, as she after- 
wards understood, in order to try her, or because our Lord 
suffered him, for her greater perfection, to fall into perplexity 
with regard to the truth of the revelations vouchsafed to her, 
took counsel with five or six other highly esteemed servants of 
Gk)d. The result of this consultation was a decision that all 
the extraordinary graces bestowed on Teresa were the work 
of the devil, and an injunction fit)m her confessor to refirain 
from frequent conmiunion, to avoid solitude, and to do every 
thing in her power to distract her mind from these super- 
natural communications. 

The report that she was a prey to diabolical delusions spread 
rapidly from mouth to mouth, with the envenomed addition 
that such a fearfcd visitation had doubtless befallen her as a 
chastisement for secret sins hidden under the fair semblance 
of a spotless life. A heavy cross to bear for one whose exceeding 
purity of soul had been conspicuous even in the days of her 
worldly vanity — ^a bitter mortification for Castilian pride, if a 
vestige yet remained to wince, under the loathsome touch of 
such a slander ! 

If she turned from the hard judgments of men to the God 
of all consolation, even here she was pursued by the sentence 
which debarred her from mental prayer, restricted the fre- 
quency of her communions, and permitted her only the use of 
vocal aspirations. 



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40 Life of 8. Teresa. 

But a bitterer trial tlian men conld impose was now laid 
apon lier by Him for whom she had suffered all that went 
before. A darkness fell upon her, so deep and desolate that 
it seemed as if God had forgotten her, and as if she had for- 
gotten that He had ever been on her side. The eyil one took 
advantage of the horror which oppressed her to increase it by 
many a fearful suggestion, persuading her that she was abeady 
forsaken of God, and inflicting upon her tortures that she could 
only liken to those of the lost in heU. If she tried to per- 
severe in vocal prayer, she hardly understood the words which 
she recited. 

She suffered equally in conversing with her sisters in 
religion, and more severely still in the sohtude of her cell. 
To these mental sufferings were added at the same time severe 
bodily pains. 

As the only possible relief to her sufferings, she sought to 
occupy herself, as far as possible, in exterior works of charity, 
and in frequent and fervent acts of hope in Him who never 
forsakes those who trust in Him. She faithfully obeyed every 
command of her director, submitting not only her judgment 
to his, but the very experience of her senses. She thus 
became daily more pleasing in the eyes of God, who, in return 
for an obedience and humility so excellent, seemed to seek her 
in the same measure as she withdrew from Him. If she kept 
away from the Oratory to avoid those sweet coUoquies with 
Him which she was forbidden to enjoy, He met her in the 
cloister, or pursued her even to the recreation room. She 
i^us describes the hushing of the tempest at Hia sovereign 
command, and the restoration of such a calm to her troubled 
spirit, that she, who had been afraid to remain in a room by 
herself, was strengthened to defy all the powers of hell : — 

* I could have no comfort in any way when I thought it 
was possible that the devil had often spoken to me ; but as I 
now spent no more time in sohtude and in prayer, our Lord 
gave me the gift of recollection, even when I was engaged in 
conversation, and this without my being able to avoid it ; and 
He said to me what He pleased, though it troubled me to hear 
Him. Being once all alone, without having anyone near to 
console me, I could neither pray nor read, but was like one 



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Out Lord Himself consoled her. 41 

amazed at my great tribulation, and I was also terrified by 
the consideration that perhaps the devil had receiyed power 
to deceive me. And being thns harassed and fatigued, not 
knowing what to do with myself, for never before (as I 
thought) had I been in such great trouble, I remained four or 
five hours in this state ; and there seemed to me no comfort 
for me, either on earth or in Heaven, in the midst of the 
sufferings in which our Lord left me, and under the fear also 
of a thousand dangers. But, O my Lord ! how true a friend 
art Thou, and how powerftd ! What Thou wilt Thou canst 
effect, and Thou never dost forsake or cease to love those who 
love Thee ! May all creatures praise Thee, O Lord of the 
world ! Oh ! that I could ciy out loud enough to proclaim 
throughout the universe how feithftil Thou art to Thy friends ! 
All things fail ; but Thou, the Lord of them all, dost never 
fidl. How little is that which Thou allowest those who love 
Thee to suffer ! O Lord, how delicately, how vdsely, and how 
sweetly dost Thou treat such souls ! Oh ! that I had never 
loved any but Thee ! It seems, O Lord, that sometimes Thou 
triest severely those who love Thee, that so, by the excess of 
their affliction, they may understand the better the far greater 
excess of Thy love. Oh ! that I had understanding, and 
learning, and new words, that I might be able to proclaim Thy 
works, as my soul knows them ! 

* Alas ! I have none of these, O Lord ; but at least, if Thou 
wilt not desert me, I will never forsake Thee. Let all the 
learned men in the world rise up against me ; let all creatures 
persecute me ; let the devils torment me, if only Thou, 
Lord ! wilt not forsake me ; for I know well by experience 
how mightily Thou deliverest all those who put their trust in 
Thee alone ! When I was in this great trouble (even before I 
had begun to have any visions at all), these words alone were 
sufficient entirely to free me from all troubles. " Fear not, 
daughter, it is I ; I will not forsake thee ; do not fear." 

^ It seems to me that, considering what I was then, a long 
time would have been necessary to bring peace to my soul, 
and that no one would have been able to comfort me, so 
great was my anguish ; and yet I was at once consoled by 
these words alone, and endued with such strength, courage, 



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42 Life of S. Teresa. 

confidence, tranquillity, and light, tliat I conld have maintained 
fearlessly against the whole world that these words came from 
God. Oh ! how good is God ! Oh ! how good and powerful 
is the Lord ! He gives not only connsel, but remedies also. 
His words are works. How admirably does He strengthen our 
faith and increase onr love ! I often called to mind how onr 
Lord, when a tempest had risen at sea, commanded the winds 
and the waves, and there came a great calm ; and I nsed to 
say then. Who is this whom all the powers of my soul obey ? 
and who in an instant brings such dazzling light out of such 
deep darkness, and makes that hea^ become soft which 
seemed before to be hard as a stone? and who gives the water 
of sweet tears, where before there had been so long and great 
a drought ? Who inspires these desires ? and who gives me 
such courage ? Such were the thoughts which now arose in 
my heart. Of what am I afraid ? What is this ? I desire 
to serve this Lord, and I wish for nothing but to please Him. 
I renounce aU pleasure, and ease, and every other good, save 
only the doing of His wiU. Of this I am sure, as I can 
fearlessly affirm. Since then this Lord is so powerftil, as I 
see He is, and since all the devils are his slaves (and of this I 
can have no doubt, since it is of faith), what harm can they 
do me, who am a servant of this Lord and Ring ? Why may 
I not have strength enough to fight with all the powers of 
hell ? Thus I spoke. I then took a cross in my hands, and 
it really seemed to me that God gave me in a moment such 
courage that I should not have been afraid to encounter all 
the devils in hell ; I felt that with that cross I could easily 
overcome them all, and thus I challenged them : " Now come 
all of you, for, being a servant of God, I wish to see what 
you can do to me." It is very certain I thought they were 
afraid of me, for I remained so quiet and so fearless of them 
all, that even till this day all the fears I entertained are now 
entirely removed. And though I have sometimes seen them, 
yet I never feared them again ; rather, it seemed, that they 
were afruid of me. I have a certain dominion over them, 
given to me by the Lord of all creatures, so that I make no 
more account of the devils than so many flies ; and they seem 
to me to be so cowardly that, when they see Httle notice is 



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Sin a more dangerous foe than HeLL 43 

taken of them, they have no strength or power whatever. 
These enemies can only attack those who give themselves up 
to them, nnless it be when God permits them to tempt and 
torment some of His servants for their greater good. I wonld 
that it might please His Majesty to make us fear that only 
which we ought to fear, and to make us understand that we 
receive greater "harm from, one venial sin tha/nfrom all the powers 
of hell combined,* 



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44 Life of 8. Teresa. 



CHAPTER VI. 
1558. 

SXJCCBSSION OP WONDBRFXJL VISIONS VOUCHSAFED TO THE 
SAINT— DISTBXJST AND SUSPICION EXCITED THEBEBY BOTH OP 
TEBE8A AND HEB CONPESSOB — SPIBITUAL PBOPIT WHICH SHE 
DEBIVED PBOH THEM — ^EXCELLENCE OP HEB OBEDIENCE — 
ENCOUBAOEHENT AND CONSOLATION WHICH SHE BECEIVED 
PBOM OUB DIVINE LOBD. 

Although Teresa's own fears and scruples were thus in a 
great measure laid to rest, she had still great troubles to 
endure from the doubts and anxieties of her spiritual advisers. 
*I continued,' she says, 'in great affliction and trouble (on 
account of these doubts and suspicions), and at the same time 
many prayers were offered for me to the Lord, that He wonid 
be pleased to conduct me by another way, since this was 
thought to be so suspicious. But true it is, that though I 
earnestly begged this favour from God, yet, considering how 
evidently my sonl was improved by the other way, I could 
never find it in my power to desire it heartily, though I did 
desire it in some degree at times when I was harassed and 
distressed by what I was told, and by the fears with which 
my confessors filled me. I saw that I had now become quite 
another creature, and all I could do was to put myself into the 
hands of God, beseeching Him that, since He knew what was 
fit for me. He would be pleased to dispose of me absolutely 
according to His holy will. I saw clearly that, by this way, 
my soul was going to Heaven, which formerly was on the way 
to hell : why, therefore, should I desireilto take another path, 
or beUeve that the devil had brought me into this ? It was 
not in my power to force myself into such an opinion. Still I 



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ConsdovMneaa of the continual presence of Christ 45 

did wliat I could to desire the one and to believe the other ; 
but, as I have said, it was not in my power. I offered for this 
object a few poor works which I performed, if indeed I have 
ever done any good at all. I became devout to some of the 
Saints, that by their means I might be deUvered from the 
devil. I performed novenas, and I recommended myself to 
S. Hilarion, and S. Michael the Archangel, for this purpose ; 
many other Saints also I importuned, that by their prayers 
our Lord might show me the right way. At the end of two 
years, which both myself and others spent in prayers that our 
Lord might either conduct my soul by some other way, or 
show me the truth of this, the following circumstance hap- 
pened to me : — ^Being one day in prayer, on the festival of the 
glorious S. Peter, I saw standing veiy near me, or, to speak 
more properly, I felt and perceived, for I saw nothing at all 
either with the eyes of my body or my soul, that Christ our 
Lord was close by me, and that it was He who spoke to me, 
as I thought. Having been up to this time extremely ignorant 
as to whether there could be any such vision as this, I fell at 
first into so great a fear, that I could do nothing but weep ; but 
presently our Lord gave me comfort, by speaking only one 
word ; and I found myself, as I was wont, very quiet, with 
great delight and without fear. It seemed to me that Christ 
walked always by my side ; but the vision not being imaginary, 
nor represented in any form to the imagination, I perceived 
not in what shape He was, though I found and felt very 
sensibly that He was always at my side ; that He witnessed 
whatever I did, and that if I were recollected even in a small 
degree, or rather unless I was very much distracted, I could 
not help being conscious that He was near me. 

* I went immediately to my confessor, though I was much 
grieved that I was obliged to tell him what had happened. 
He asked me under what form I saw our Lord ? I told him I 
did not see Him. My confessor then enquired how I knew it 
was Christ ? I answered I knew not how, but that I could 
not help perceiving that our Lord was close by me, for I knew 
and felt clearly that sa it was ; that the recollection of my soul 
in prayer was far greater and more continual ; that the effects 
also were very different from those others which I formerly 



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46 Life of S. Teresa. 

experienced. In a word, the thing appeared to me veiy certain 
and evident. I made use of several comparisons, whereby to 
make myself understood, and yet, in my opinion, there is none 
which properly explains this vision, for as this is one of the 
highest kind according to what that holy and spiritual man. 
Father Peter d* Alcantara, told me, as well as other great and 
learned men, so one cannot find words in this world to express 
it; at least, we who know so little cannot, though learned 
men may make themselves better understood. But if, as I say, I 
saw our Lord neither with the eyes of the body nor of the soul, 
because it was no imaginary vision, I may be asked how I can 
understand and assert more clearly that He was near me, than 
if I had actually seen him ? I answer that it is as if a person 
were in the dark, and saw not another who stood near him, or 
as if the person were blind. This is something of a compari- 
son, though not very exact, for even if a person were bKnd, he 
might know another to be present by his other senses, because 
he could hear him speak or move, or he might touch him. 
But here there is nothing at all of this, nor is there any dark- 
ness ; but our Lord's presence is represented to the soul by a 
sign clearer than the sun itself, and yet no sun or brightness 
is seen, but only a certain light, which, without our seeing it, 
illuminates the understanding, that so the soul may enjoy so 
great a good. This vision brings also great benefits with it.' 

The Saint proceeds to describe the blessed and salutary 
effects of thus literally walking with God, and doing every 
action under the consciousness that His divine eyes were rest- 
ing upon her, even as they rested on Peter on the water and 
on Martha and Mary in the house of Bethania, thus making 
another paradise of the cloisters and the orange gardens of 
that Convent of the Licamation. 

' This vision continued for some days together, and it was so 
profitable to me that I never omitted prayer; and besides, 
whatever I had to do, I took care that it should be done in 
such a manner that it might not displease Him, whom I evi- 
dently saw to be there, as a witness of all that passed ; and 
though sometimes I feared on account of what I was told, still 
my trouble did not last long, because our Lord comforted and 
encouraged me. 



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Exceeding Beauty of Glorified Bodies, 47 

' Being one day in prayer, it pleased Him to show me His 
sacred hands, and they were so excessively beantifal that I am 
not able to describe them. But this sight gave me great fear, 
as indeed every new sight does in the beginning of any of 
those supernatural favours which our Lord is pleased to show 
me. Within a few days after, I saw His Divine face, the sight 
of which ravished me with^deHght. I could not conceive why 
our Lord showed Himself thus to me, by Httle and Httle, since 
afterwards He resolved to do me the favour that I should 
see His whole person, till I came to reflect that He was 
pleased to conduct me according to my natural weakness. 
May He be blessed for ever, since such great glory so base 
and wicked a creature as myself could not have endured ; and 
therefore, our mercifiil Lord, who knew this, disposed things 
thus tenderly. 

' It may, perhaps, be imagined that there was not any need 
of much strength to behold hands and a face so beautiful. But, 
such is the beauty of glorified bodies, that the sight of them 
quite amazes and distracts the soul ; and thus I was so 
frightened at first, that I fell into great trouble and disorder, 
though afberwards I gained certainty and security, with other 
such effects, that fear quickly vanished away. On the feast of 
S. Paul, while I was hearing mass, the most Sacred Humanity 
of Christ was folly represented to me, as it is painted after 
His resurrection ; but with such great beauty and majesty that 
I can only say, that if there were nothing else in Heaven to 
delight our eyes but the excessive beauty of glorified bodies, 
the bliss would be immense, especially the sight of the 
Htimanity of Jesus Christ our Lord ; and if His Majesty be so 
great, even when It is represented to us in this world, accord- 
ing to that proportion which our misery can bear, what will it 
be when we shall wholly enjoy and possess such a happiness ? 

' This vision, though represented to me by the way of a 
mental image, was never seen by me with the eyes of my body, 
nor was any other, but only with the eyes of my soul. They 
who understand these things better than I do, affirm that thi^ 
kind of vision, which is purely intellectual, is of a higher and 
more perfect kind than those which are seen with the bodily 
eyes ; for these latter, they say, are of the lowest kind, in which 



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48 Life of 8. Teresa. 

the devil can more easily introduce his delusions ; tliougli at 
tliat time I could not imderstand any such tiling, but rather 
desired that when I was to receive any favour of this nature 
I might see it with my corporal eyes, that my confessor might 
not tell me I only fancied things. And so it often happened 
to me that as soon as it was past (and this was in one instant) 
I began to think I might perhaps have only fancied the vision, 
and I was thus somewhat troubled at having told my confessor, 
thinking whether or no I had deceived him. This was the 
cause of another trouble, and so I went to him and told him 
of it. He asked me whether I had really thought that things 
were as I described them, or if I had a desire to deceive him ? 
I told him truly that I had spoken in all sincerity, because 
as far as I can judge, I had no wish to tell a lie, nor did I 
intend to do such a thing, nor would I have done so for the 
whole world. This he knew very well, and so he did his best 
to comfort and calm me. But I felt so unwilling to trouble 
him with these matters, that I know not how the devil could 
have made me fancy I had feigned anything or deceived my 
confessor : this he did to torment n\e.' She proceeds to 
describe, after the best of her power, the exceeding glory of 
the vision. * It is a sight, the clearness and brightness of 
which exceeds all that can possibly be imagined in this world. 
-It is not a splendour which dazzles, but a sweet lustre ; nor 
does that light offend the eyes whereby we see this object of 
such divine beauty. It is a light so different from that of this 
world, that even the brightness of the sim itself which we see 
is dim in comparison with its brightness. It is as if we beheld 
very clear water running upon crystal, with the sun's rays 
reflected upon it, and striking through it, in comparison with 
other very muddy water seen in a cloudy day and running 
upon an earthy bottom. This is a light which never sets and 
has no night, but as it is always Hght, nothing disturbs it. 
Indeed it is of such a nature that no understanding in this hfe, 
however sublime, would be able adequately to conceive it. 
Still I was continually assured that these things came from 
the devil, or that I only fancied them, for as there were some 
very holy persons in that place (compared with whom I was 
but misery itself) who were not guided by this way, they 



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Ea/rd Judgments, 49 

immediately began to fear that my sins were in all probability 
the cause of these effects, and so the report went from one to 
another in snch a manner, that many became acquainted with 
these secrets of mine, though I spoke of them to no one but 
my confessor, or those to whom he conunanded me to mention 
them. I said to them once, that if they who spoke thus to 
me should assert that some person with whom I had just been 
talking, and whom I knew very well, was not that person, but 
that I only fancied him so to be, I should have more easily 
believed them than myself But if that person had left some 
jewels with me, and they remained still in my hand as pledges 
of the great love he bore me ; and if I now perceived that I was 
rich, whereas I was very poor before, I should not then be 
able to believe them, however much I might desire it, especially 
sittce I could show these jewels to others, for all who knew me 
saw clearly that I had become quite another person, and so my 
confessor also told me, for the difference was very great in 
every respect, and plainly visible. Having been so wicked 
before, I used to say I could notbeHeve that the devil did this 
to deceive me and send me to hell, which had so greatly 
served to root out vices, and to plant in me spiritual strength 
and every kind of virtue ; for I perceived very clearly tiiat 
one of these visions was alone sufl&cient thus to enrich m^, 
My confessor was very discreet and very humble ; and yet 
this humility cost me many troubles, for though he was a 
learned man, and a man of prayer, yet he did not trust in 
himself, as our Lord did not lead him along this road. He 
was much troubled on my account in many ways. He was 
even warned to beware of me, lest the devil might deceive 
him, by inducing him to believe what I told him, and to 
prove their point, those who spoke thus adduced the example 
of other persons. All this gave me trouble enough, for I 
was afraid I should have no one to hear my confessions, 
but that everyone would fly from me ; and so I did nothing 
but weep. It was a mercy of God that this Father still 
continued to hear me; but he was so great a servant of 
God that for His sake he was willing to expose himself to 
everything; and so he bade me not to offend God — not to 
depart fr*om the directions he gave me ; he also bade me 

s 



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50 Life of 8. Teresa. 

not to fear bis leaving me. He always comforted and en- 
conraged me, and commanded me never to conceal anything 
from him. And should I observe this command, he told me 
that, though the devil were the cause of these visions, he 
would not be able to do me any harm, but rather that our 
Lord would draw good out of the evil which he wished to do 
to my soul. He thus tried to lead me forward to perfection 
in all things to the utmost of his power, and I being in such 
fear, obeyed him in everything, though imperfectly. He 
had a great deal of trouble with me for more than three 
years, during which I confessed to him in the midst of these 
afflictions and great persecutions which I endured, for our 
Lord allowed people to form a bad opinion of me, and these 
afflictions came (many of them at least) from no &.ult of mine, 
so that I was always coming to the Father, and he was 
blamed on my account, though he was not in any fault what- 
ever. I think it would have been impossible for him to have 
endured all these troubles so long had he not been a man of 
great sanctiiy ; but our Lord encouraged him and enabled him 
to bear so much, for he had to answer everyone who thought I 
was a lost soul, though they believed him not ; and, on the 
other hand, he had to calm my mind, and to deliver me out of 
the fears in which I lived. He had also to satisfy me in 
another respect, for after every new vision our Lord permitted 
me to be in great terror. All this came from my having been 
and being still so great a sinner. Still he comforted me with 
much compassion, and had he followed his own opinion, I 
should not have suffered so much, for God enabled him to 
understand the truth in all things ; and it was I believe from 
the Sacrament of the Altar that he derived all his illumination. 
Those other servants of God, who could not be satisfied that I 
was in a safe way, often conversed with me ; and when I spoke 
to them with openness and simplicity, they would often mis- 
understand my words. Now one of these (Don F. Salcedo) I 
loved much, for my soul was exceedingly indebted to hiTn, and 
he ardently desired my perfection, and prayed to Gt)d to en- 
lighten me. I was much troubled to see that I could not make 
myself understood by him. And so when I used to speak 
thus fiankly to these friends, it seemed to them to be a sign of 



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Vidona of our Divine Lord. 61 

little lixLmility in me ; and wlien they saw me commit some fault 
(and they might have noticed many) they at once condemned 
me altogether. Sometimes they asked me some questions, 
and I answered them wi^h candour and without reserve, 
then they thought I wished to teach them and that I con- 
sidered myself very wise, and accordingly they would go to 
my confessor to complain, because they certainly wished me 
well, and he reprimanded me. This lasted a long time, and I 
was afflicted in many ways ; but as I received many favours 
from our Lord, I was able to endure every trouble.' 

The Saint proceeds to describe more particularly the visions 
with which she was favoured, and the prolonged vexations 
and persecutions which they brought upon her. 

*In these visions our Lord almost always represented EEimself 
to me as risen again, and the same in the Sacred Host ; except 
that sometimes in order to strengthen me, when in tribulation, 
He showed me His wounds as on the cross, or appeared in 
agony as in the garden ; and on some few occasions I saw Hitti 
with His crown of thorns, and at other times carryiog His 
Cross. By mentioning these things I drew upon myself many 
ajQ&onts and vexations, and great persecutions and fears. 
People were so certain that I was under the influence of the 
devil, that some wished me to be exorcised. This, however, 
gave me very Uttle trouble ; but what I felt the most was, to 
see my confessors afraid of hearing my confessions, or when I 
came to know that tales were told to them about me. Still, on 
the whole, I know not how to be sorry for having seen these 
heavenly visions ; nor would I exchange any one of them for 
all the goods and pleasures of the world, for I always consi- 
dered these visions to be great favours from our Lord, and I 
esteem them as most precious treasures, and our Lord Himself 
has often assured me that such they are. I also observed, that 
thereby I began to love our Lord the more, and to Him I went 
to complain of all my troubled, and always came forth from 
prayer both with comfort and with new strength. As to these 
persons, I did not presume to contradict them, for I saw it 
would make things worse, as they would have thought it a 
want of humiHty ; I spoke only to my confessor, and whenever 
he found me in affliction he always consoled me greatly. 

E 2 



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62 Life of 8. Teresa. 

* As my visions began to increase, one of those who nsed 
before to assist me, and sometimes bear my confessions wben 
my ordinary confessor was not in the way, began to tell me 
tbat I was evidently deluded by 13ie* devil. He commanded 
me (since there was no other means of resisting him) always 
to be crossing and blessing myself when I saw any vision, and 
to use some sign of scorn, because it was certainly the devil, 
and by this means he wonld come no more, and that I need 
not fear, but God would preserve me, and deliver me from 
him. This command was very painM to me, because as I 
could not help believing my visions came fit)m God, it was a 
terrible thing for me to use any act of contempt to Him; 
neither could I desire that these things should be taken away 
from me : still I did aU that was commanded me. I earnestly 
besought our Lord to free me from being deceived ; and this 
I did continually, and with abundance of tears : I also prayed 
to S. Peter and S. Paul ; for as I had the first vision on their 
Festival, our Lord told me that they would take care of me 
that I should not be deceived ; and accordingly I have often 
seen very clearly, though not by the way of any imagmcury 
vision, these two glorious Saints on my left hand, as my good 
Patrons. 

' But this command to make signs of contempt gave me ex- 
cessive trouble, when I saw this vision of our Lord ; for when 
I saw Him present before me, I could not be induced to 
beHeve it was the devil, even though I should have been 
torn in pieces, and therefore it was a severe kind of penance. 
But in order that I might not be so perpetually blessing 
myself, I took a cross in my hands ; and this I did almost 
always. But I did not use the signs of scorn so often, 
because this would have afficted me too much, for I re- 
membered the injuries the Jews inflicted on our Lord, and 
so I besought Him to pardon me, since I acted in obedience to 
those whom He had appointed in His own stead, and not to 
blame me, since they were the ministers whom He had placed in 
His church. He then said to me, Be not troubled at this, for 
thou dost well m oheymg them, and I will make Jcnotmi the truth. 
But when they forbade me the use of mental prayer, our Lord 
appeared displeased, and told me to tell them ITiis was tyrarmy. 



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Heroic Obedience. £3 

He also gave me reason to understand that I was not deceived 
by the devil. 

*' When once I was holding the cross in my hand, which was 
at the end of my rosary, He took it into "ffifl hand, and when 
He returned it to me it consisted of fonr great stones, incom- 
parably more precious than diamonds, for there is nothing 
here below that can equal the supernatural : a diamond is but 
an imperfect kind of stone in comparison with those jewels. 
They had on them the five wounds wrought .in a most 
curious manner. And our Lord told me I should see the 
cross thus henceforth, and so I did : and now I no longer saw 
the matter of which the cross was made, but only these 
precious stones : no one saw them thus but myself. 

' When I was commanded to make these trials, and to resist 
the favours, they increased much more : and though I might 
wish to turn my mind to something else, yet my prayer was 
so continual that it ceased not even in sleep. I felt that the 
love of our Lord was increasing more and more, and I would 
then utter loving complaints to Him of the state of thral- 
dom in which I was held ; nor was it in my power, though I 
had desired it, to leave off thinking of Him : still I obeyed as 
well as I could, though I was able to do little or nothing 
therein. Our Lord never freed me from the obligation of 
obeying my confessors ; but though He commanded me to do 
as tiiey bade me, He gave me confidence on the other side, 
and taught me what I should say to them : giving me (as He 
does now) such convincing reasons as to make me feel wholly 
secure. 

* Not long after this, His Majesty began to perform what He 
had been pleased to promise me before — ^to assure me more 
strongly that it was He ; for there grew in me so great a love 
for Gk>d, that I knew not who infrised it into me, for it was of a 
very supernatural kind : nor had I done anything to procure 
it. I felt as if dying through a desire of seeing God, and I 
knew not how or where to seek or find this life, but by the 
way of death.' 

Our Divine Lord was pleased to convince one of the Saint's 
confessors (probably the same who had given her so much 
trouble) of the jpossibiUiy of the appearances vouchsafed to 



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54 lAfe of S. Tereacb. 

her "by his own experience. As this priest was one night 
alone in his chamber, to his great astonishment our Lord 
suddenly stood before him. The next morning he hastened 
to S. Teresa to tell her what he had seen. ' Father,' replied 
she, ' do you mean that Christ really appeared to your pa- 
temiiy ? Impossible ! I cannot credit it ! ' The confessor did 
his best to convince her of the reality of his vision, and 
received for answer : ' Your paternity will now be pleased to 
understand ths^t as certain as you are of your vision, so sure 
am I of those which I have related to your reverence.' 



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55 



CHAPTER Vn. 
1559. 

THE HEABT OP S. XERESA HIBACTTLOFSLT WOUNDED BY A 
SBllAPH — ^HEB HEBOIC VOW — SHE CONSTJLTS 8. PETER OP 
ALCAKTARA UPON HER METHOD OP PRAYER — HE APPROYES 
IT, AND SHE SENDS HIM A PULL STATEMENT OP HER CASE IN 
WRITING. 

Wb are told by S. Teresa's holy son, S. Jolm of the Cross, 
that our Lord never confers any supernatural favour on the 
body without having previously bestowed something greater 
on the soul. S. Teresa herself has described to us the won- 
ders of the celestial flame which was consuming her soul 
in anticipation of that piercing of her heart by the fiery dart 
of the Seraph which conformed her to the passion of her Lord. 
The following is her own relation of the miracle : — 

* Our Lord was pleased that I should have repeatedly the 
following vision : — I saw an angel very near me on my left 
side, in a corporeal form, which is not usual with me ; for 
though angels are often represented to me, yet it is only by 
that kind of intellectual vision of which I have already spoken. 
He was not tall, but rather low of stature, and very beautiftd ; 
his face was so luminous that he seemed to be one of those 
glorious spirits who appear to be all on fire (with divine love). 
He might be one of those who are called Seraphim, for they do 
not tell me their names ; but I see clearly that in Heaven there 
is so great a difference between some angels and others, that I 
am not able to express it. I saw that he had a long golden 
dart in his hand, and at the point there seemed to me to be a 
Httle fire : I thought that he pierced my heart with this dart 
several times, and in such a manner that it went through my 
very bowels ; and when he drew it out, it seemed as if they 



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56 lAfe of 8. Teresa. 

were drawn forth with it, and I remained wholly inflamed with 
a great love of Grod. The pain of this wonnd was so intense 
that it forced deep groans &om me ; but its sweetness was so 
excessive, that I could not desire to be firee from it, nor find 
content in anything but Gk)d. This is not a corporeal bnt a 
spiritual pain, though the body in some measure, yea, in a great 
measure, participates in it. It is so delightful an intercourse 
between the soul and Grod, that I beseech His goodness to give 
some taste of it to him who may imagine I do not speak the 
truth.' 

The reality of this marvellous infliction was attested after 
the death of the Saint by various credible witnesses, who 
declared that the lance had not only wounded the heart, but 
actually pierced it through and through, and that the edges of 
the wound bore the marks of having been burnt. Still more 
solemn evidence of the miracle was brought to Home and 
printed there in the year 1726, on the petition of the Carmelite 
Order for permission to keep a festival in its honour. Proof 
was then brought by the testimony of eye-witnesses, and the 
declaration upon oath of two physicians and a surgeon, that 
the heart of the Saint remained up to that time incorrupt, and 
bore the marks of a wound produced by some sharp instrument 
piercing it through from side to side, the edges also indicating 
the eflects of fire. 

The life of S. Teresa for the three-and-twenty years during 
which she survived this supernatural infliction, was a physical 
miracle, no less astonishing than the spiritual wonders by 
which it was accompanied. It appears, moreover, that the 
infliction was several times repeated, the scars of several 
smaller wounds besides the principal one being visible on the 
heart. 

The venerable Anne of Jesas, one of the best beloved of her 
daughters, relates that on one occasion, when she was sleeping 
in a cell over that of the Saint, she heard her utter deep sighs 
and groans. She went to see if she needed anything, and 
was answered: 'Gfo, go, my child, I would that the same 
thing might happen to thee.' 

Well may our Saint bear the name of the Seraphic Virgin ; 
well may the Church salute her in her Vesper Hymn as the 



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Her wonderful Vow. 57 

victim of charity, charitatia victima, for assuredly ilie burn- 
ing dart of tlie Seraph whicli pierced her material heart did 
but symboHse the fire of Divine charity which inflamed her 
soul. 

Even after death her heart seemed to be still on fire with 
love. The precious relic was no sooner enclosed in a crystal 
reHquary, that it might be visible to the faithful, than the 
crystal was broken, as if by a fire within it. In vain was one 
crystal placed over another. They were all successively 
broken, until the expedient was adopted of leaving an aperture 
at the top of the reHquary, by which the flame of that burning 
heart might escape. 

The miraculous wound in the heart was followed by a 
succession of extraordinary raptures in which the Saint was 
frequently raised from the ground, and that (to her great 
confrision) very often in the presence of others. But the most 
conspicuous proof of the ardent love to which she had now 
attained was the sublime vow which, in the same year, she 
was inspired and permitted to make, always and on all oc- 
casions to do that which is most perfect, hereby imposing upon 
herself a new anS most arduous kind of mortification, even the 
perpetual bondage of her free-will. By this promise she 
bound her soul, under the pain of mortal sin, to observe^with 
the utmost possible perfection, not only the precepts of the 
Gospel, but the rules and constitutions of her religious state, 
which ordinarily are understood not to bind under sin ; and, 
moreover, all the commands, counsels and directions of su- 
periors, or spiritual guides, or devout books. In all oases, 
wherein she would otherwise have been free to choose, she 
thus bound herself by an irrevocable engagement to do the 
most perfect thing possible. 

For this vow, which could be exonerated from the guilt of 
presumption only by the inspiration of Him who moved her to 
make and enabled her to keep it, S. Teresa prepared herself by 
trying her strength in the falfilment of a simple resolution to 
the same effect ; then, under the sanction of her director and 
the 'guidance of God,' a Deo edocta,* in no blind presumption, 

* Bull of canonisation. 



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58 Ufe of 8. Teresa. 

but with* consummate pmdence and most ardent love, she 
offered her great vow to Gk)d. 

In this act S. Teresa has been followed by some others of 
the Saints, as S. Jane Frances de Chantal, and the B. Margaret 
Mary Alacoque ; but her biographer tells us that, to the best 
of his knowledge, she was the first to set the example of this 
heroic sacrifice. Of the fidelity with which she was enabled 
to accomplish it, we may judge by her own words in the 
sixth chapter of her life, written some years afterwards: 
* Whilst I am now writing these lines, it seems that I may say 
by Thy favour and mercy what S. Paul said : " I live now, yet 
not I, but Christ liveth in me,*' though not with the same 
perfection as he did ; and according to the experience which I 
have now had for some years, Thou still keepest Thy hand 
over me, and I find myself filled with desires and resolutions 
not to do anything against Thy will, however small it may be, 
though I know I must commit many offences against Thy 
Majesty without knowing it. And it also seems that nothing 
could be proposed to me which I would not resolutely perform 
for the love of Thee ; and in some things Thou ha^ so assisted 
me that I have succeeded in them. I care not for the world, 
nor for the things of the world, and I find that nothing gives 
me pleasure but what comes from Thee, and that everything 
else is but a heavy cross.' 

That the Saint persevered in her heroic purpose to the end of 
her life, through a period of two-and-twenty years, we know 
by the evidence of her spiritual directors, and by the testimony 
of the acts of her canonisation. The following are the words 
of the Sacred Congregation of the Hota : Q/aod et Deo fideUter 
reddidit, prce nmdo amore quo Ulwm propter seipsvm, proseque' 
hatu/r, ut totma vitce vpsi/us cursiis prohat, 

Teresa's anxieties and perplexities still continuing, it pleased 
our Lord to send her relief by the hands of His holy servant 
S. Peter of Alcantara. Her jBedthfol friend Guiomar d'UUoa 
was the medium of communication between these chosen souls. 
S. Teresa thus relates the circumstances of their first introduc- 
tion to each other, and of the benefits conferred upon her soul 
by the counsels of the aged Saint. 

* Our Lord was pleased to remedy a great part of my trouble, 



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S. Peter of Alcantara. 59 

and for that time all of it, by bringing to Avila that blessed 
man, F. Peter of Alcantara, so wonderftd for his austerities. 
Among other things I was assured that for twenty years he 
continnaUy wore a garment of iron plate in the form of a 
hair-cloth. He is the author of certain little books of prayer, 
in Spanish, which are now much used ; for, as he was well- 
versed in prayer, he wrote very profitably on it, and gave 
excellent instructions to those who practised it. He observed 
the first rule of S. Francis in all its rigour.' S. Peter was the 
founder of that reform of the Franciscan Order, the members 
of which are known in Spain by the name of Alcantarines, in 
Italy of Biformati, and in France of Becollets. 

' A certain widow lady,' continues the Saint, ' who was a 
great servant of Qod, and a particular Mend of mine, came to 
know that this holy man was then at Avila. She was also 
aware of my troubles (for she had witnessed my afflictions, 
and had comforted me on many occasions, because her faith 
was so great, that she could not help believing I was directed 
by the Spirit of Grod, though all others thought I was deceived 
by the devil) ; she had likewise a very good understanding, 
and was very cautious in her words, and knew how to keep a 
secret, and to her our Lord was pleased to show great favours 
in prayer, and to give her a knowledge of many things, of 
which even learned men were ignorant. My confessor, there- 
fore, gave me leave to treat with her on various spiritual 
matters, for she understood them well, having herself enjoyed 
some of those very favours which our Lord had bestowed on 
me ; for He sent her, through me, certain instructions and 
admonitions, which were very profitable to her soul. Without 
saying anything to me, the lady obtained leave fix)m my pro- 
vincial for me to remain a week in her house, in order to be 
able the better to consult this holy man ; and so, both there 
and in several churches I spoke to him ofben, on this first 
occasion of his coming to Avila; and afterwards I corre- 
sponded with him on many occasions. Having given him a 
short account of my life and manner of prayer, with the 
greatest possible clearness, I foimd almost at the very first 
that he was enabled to understand me by his own experience, 
which was indeed the only thing I stood in need of at that 



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60 Life of S. Teresa. 

time, for I could not then well understand those things, at 
least not so far as to be able to express them. I haye always 
endeavoured, however, to treat in truth and sincerity with 
those to whom I committed the care of my soul ; I have always 
wished also to make known to them the first motions of my 
heart ; and, as regards those things which might be in any 
way doubtful or suspicious, I was wont to discuss them with 
strong reasons against myself, I therefore laid open my soul 
to him without any disguise or duplicity. Since that time, 
our Lord has been pleased to make me understand, and has 
enabled me to express the favours which His Majesty bestows 
upon me ; but at that time I needed a person who had expe- 
rienced those things perfectly to understand me, so as to be 
able to declare to me the meaning of everything. 

* The good Father gave me very great light, for I could not by 
any means understand what those intellectual visions meant, nor 
even those imagioary visions which I saw only with the eye^ 
of my soul ; for those only which were visible to the corporeal 
eye seemed to me to be of any value, and of these I received 
none at all. But this holy man enlightened me in everything, 
and explained all things to me, and bade me not to be trouble^ 
but to bless God, and be assured I was directed by Bos Spirit, 
and that next to the verities of the faith there could be 
nothing more certainly true, nor worthy of more entire belief. 
He seemed to feel much consolation in being with me, and he 
showed me every courtesy and kindness, and ever afterwards 
took great care of me and communicated his most inwar4 
thoughts and purposes to me. Finding that I also had the 
same desires which he had already carried into effect, an<l 
that I was likewise ftdl of courage (for our Lord had giveii 
me great resolution), he took particular pleasure in speaking 
with me. Whenever our Lord brings anyone to this state, 
there is no pleasure or comfort which can be equal to that of 
meeting with such another person, to whom our Lord has 
given some beginnings of this same disposition ; for then I 
had not much more than a beginning, by what I can remem- 
ber, and God grant that I may have it now. He had also 
very great compassion for me, and he told me that one of the 
greatest afflictions of this life was that which I endured, viz,, 



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Contradiction of the good. 61 

the contradiction of good men ; and tliat there was still a great 
deal for me to suffer, because I should always have need of 
help, and there was no one in that city who tmderstood me. 
He promised to speak with my confessor, and with one of 
those also who gave me the most tronble, and this was that 
married gentleman (Don F. de Salcedo) of whom I spoke 
before ; for because he had a great esteem for me, he disturbed 
me the most. He was a man of a tender and holy soul, and 
knowing how wicked I used to be, he could not rest satisfied 
or secure. The holy man did as he said, for he spoke with 
those two persons, and gave them reasons and proofs to show 
they need not be uneasy, and that I sought not to be harassed 
any more. My confessor needed few reasons, but that gen- 
tleman so many that these' were not altogether sufficient, 
though still they served to deter him from terrifying me so 
much as he did before. It was agreed between this holy re- 
ligious and me that I should send him an account, of my 
progress from that time forward, and that we should frequently 
recommend one another to God ; for so deep was his humility 
that he set a little value even on the prayers of this miserable 
creature, and this gave me great conftision. He left me in 
possession of very great comfort and joy, and told me to con- 
tinue my prayer in security, and to make no doubt that it 
came from Gt)d ; but that whenever I was in any doubt, I 
should for my own greater security mention whatever hap- 
pened to my confessor, and that then I might consider myself 
safe. But notwithstanding all this, I could not rest so entirely 
secure because our Lord was still pleased to conduct me by 
the way of fear ; so that I was inclined to believe my prayer 
came from the devil when people told me that it did, and thus 
no one was able to give me either so much fear or so much 
security as to make me give more credit to either of these 
feelings than our Lord was pleased to inftise into my soul ; 
nevertheless, I enjoyed much comfort. 

* I could not then satisfy myself with giving thanks to God 
and to my glorious Father S. Joseph, who, I thought, had 
brought the good Father to Avila, for he was commissary- 
general of the guardianship* of S. Joseph, to whom, as also to 
our Blessed Lady, I used frequently to recommend myself.' 
* A certain numbor of houses, not sufficient to form a province. 



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62 lAfe of S. Teresa^ 

The following paper was drawn up at this time by S. Teresa, 
as a fiill manifestation of her spiritual state to S. Peter of 
Alcantara. It has been happily preserved, and affords ns an 
insight into the state of that saintly soul at this period of her 
life, when, after the fiery spiritual trials through which she 
had been brought to so great a height of perfection, she was 
standing almost on the threshold of the great work for which 
they had been sent to prepare her : — 

* Jesus. 
' May the grace of the Holy Spirit be with you, my reverend 
Father. 

* This is my manner of prayer at the present time. I am 
seldom able to exercise the understanding therein, because at 
the very beginning of my prayer, my soul enters into a pro- 
found peace, or into a rapture which entirely deprives me of 
the use, of my senses ; so that if I am spoken to I only hear 
the sound of the speaker's voice, but without understanding 
what is said to me. 

* This is what often happens to me. At times, when I am 
occupied with other things, without intending to think of 
God, or when my soul is in such great dryness and my body 
so overwhelmed with suffering that it would seem impossible 
to me to pray, however great a desire I might feel to do so, 
I feel myself suddenly and irresistibly plunged in this state of 
recollection and this elevation or rapture of spirit ; and I find 
myself in a moment enriched by those spiritual treasures, 
which are the consequence of favours of this kind. And this 
befalls me without any previous vision or illumination of the 
understanding, and without even knowing where I am ; only 
it seems to me as if my soul was lost in God, and in that state 
it seems to make greater progress in a moment than it could 
do by any effort of its own in the course of a year. At other 
times I am irresistibly seized with such great transports of 
the love of God that I seem to be dying of the desire to be 
imited to Him. I cry aloud to my God as if I were at the 
point of death. The vehemence of these transports is very 
great ; sometimes I cannot remain sitting and suffer a pain so 
delicious that I would never wish it to cease. This pain 



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Manifestation to S. Peter of Alcantara. 63 

arises from my very ardent desire to depart from this life, from 
the thought that there is no other remedy for my suffering 
but death, and .that I am not permitted to inflict it npon 
myself. Thns it seems to me that everyone else is joyftd, 
and I alone afflicted ; that everyone else finds consolation and 
relief in sorrow, and that I alone am comfortless. At this 
thought the grief which overwhelms me is so great that it 
seems to me as if I must die of it but for the raptures by which 
my Divine Master quiets all my trouble, and in^ses peace 
and happiness into my soul by the marvels which He reveals 
to me. 

*At other times I am filled with desires to serve Grod, so 
impetuous, and so full of trouble at finding myself so useless 
to His glory, that I can give no idea of their intensity. It 
seems to me then that there is neither pain nor torture, nor 
death nor martyrdom of any kind, which I would not joy- 
fully endure to prove my love to Him. This also happens 
without any previous consideration; it is something sudden 
which wholly carries me away, and I know not whence I 
derive such great courage. I would fain, as it seems to me, 
* lift up my voice to make all men know how much it imports 
them not to content themselves with doing little for Ood, and 
what wonderful blessings He is ready to bestow upon us, if 
only we would prepare ourselves to receive them. These 
desires seem inwardly to consume me. I desire to do what I 
cannot do. I find in this body of mine a chain which hinders 
me from rendering the slightest service to God or my neigh- 
bour ; had I but the power, it seems to me that I would do 
great things. And thus when I feel myself powerless to serve 
God, I feel an anguish which words cannot express. This 
trouble is lost at last in the delight and consolation with which 
He overwhelms my soul. Sometimes, when transported by 
these desires to serve God, I would fain do severe penance, 
but I have not the power ; it would be a great relief to me, if 
I may judge by the consolation I feel in the practice of the 
little which my bodily weakness enables me to perform : 
indeed, if I were left to myself I believe that the ardour of 
these desires would lead me to excessive austerities. 

* It is often a great trouble to me to be obliged to converse 



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64 Life of 8. Teresa. 

vnth otliers, and sometiixies an occasion of many tears. Tliis 
arises from my thirst to be alone ; for even when I am neither 
praying nor reading, I feel an inexpressible delight in soHtade* 
Intercourse with my neighbour, especially with my relations, 
is a heavy burden to me, unless they be persons with whom I 
can speak of prayer and spiritual things, for thoB is a con* 
solation and a joy to me ; sometimes, however, even these con- 
versations weary me ; I would fein go where I should see 
nobody, and be quite alone. But I seldom feel this with 
regard to persons of this kind, still less with regard to my 
spiritual directors, who always give me consolation. From 
time to time I feel it a great trouble to be obHged to eat and 
sleep, especially to find that I am less able than other people 
to do without these things. I submit to this necessity for the 
love of Gk)d, and offer to Him the pain which it gives me. 

* The time which I spend in prayer passes so quickly that I 
seem never to have enough, for I should never be tired of con- 
versing alone with Grod. I always wish to find time to read, 
for I have been always very fond of reading. I read very 
little, however ; for I have no sooner opened a book than I fall 
into a state of profound recollection, and so my reading is 
changed into prayer. But even time thus spent seems too 
short for me because of my many occupations, which, although 
they are good, do not give me the same satisfaction as I should 
receive from reading and prayer. But I cannot help grieving 
that I have not so much time as I desire. 

* Our Lord has given me these desires, and greater virtue 
than I had before, ever since He has favoured me with that 
prayer of quiet, and those raptures of which I have spoken ; 
and I find myself so much changed for the better, that I seem 
to have been formerly imperfection itself. These raptures and 
visions have produced this admirable effect upon my soul, 
and if there be any good in me, it has come therefrom. ^ 

*Gk)d has inspired me with so firm a resolution never to 
offend TTiTn even by a venial sin, that I would rather endure a 
thousand deaths than commit the slightest sin deliberately. 
And farther, whenever a thing appears to me to be more per- 
fect and more pleasing to God, and as soon as it is commanded 
me by my director, I feel myself so resolved to execute it, that 



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Ddigkt in Ood alone. 65 

for no suffering and for no reward would I omit it. Were I 
to act otherwise, I should not, methinks, have the boldness to 
ask anything of the Lord our God, nor to address any prayer 
to TTiin. Nevertheless in all this I conmiit many faults and 
imperfections. 

* My obedience to my confessor is no doubt imperfect, never- 
theless when I understand that he commands or wills anything, 
it seems to me according to my interior disposition, that I 
should not fail to do it, and were I not to do it, I should con- 
sider myself to be greatly deluded. 

*I love poverty, but not as much as I ought to do. It seems 
to me that if I were rich, I would not reserve any revenue, 
nor keep any money for my private use, but would content 
myself with what is barely necessary. I feel, nevertheless, that 
I possess this virtue very imperfectly, for if I desire nothing 
for myself I should not be sorry to have something to give 
away. 

* I have seldom had any vision which has not left me with a 
greater degree of virtue than I had before. I leave my con- 
fessors to judge whether there be any delusion of the devil 
here. 

' All the beauties of earth, waters and fields, and flowers and 
perfumes, and music, and all other things which the world 
calls delightful, are so little to me in comparison with those 
presented to my soul by my ordinary visions, that I desire to 
have neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear them. Thus they 
affect me very little, exciting but a first movement ; to my 
eyes all these are but dust. 

* When duty obliges me to speak with seculars, even when 
the conversation turns upon spiritual things, if it be unneces- 
sarily prolonged, I am obHged to do violence to myself to 
overcome the pain which it gives me. As to conversations of 
simple amusement, in which I once deHghted, or on worldly 
subjects, I feel now so great a disgust to them that they are 
perfectly intolerable to me. Those desires which now con- 
sume me of loving, serving, and seeing God, are not excited, 
as formerly, by considerations which kindle great devotion, 
and cause me to shed many tears ; they arise from an interior 
fire, and a fervour so intense that it would soon deprive me of 

F 



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66 Life of 8. Teresa. 

life, were it not tliat Gt)d comes to mj aid, by one of the rap- 
tures of wliicli I have spoken, in which He seems to quench 
the thirst of the soul. 

' When I see persons advanced in the ways of God, who 
have these firm resolutions of which I have spoken, who are 
detached from all things and full of courage, I cannot help 
loving them much, and desiring greatly to hold communication 
with them, because their eicample seems to strengthen me. 
The sight, on the contrary, of those timid people, who go so 
sluggishly about what they might reasonably undertake for 
the service of Gt)d, saddens and grieves me. I call the great 
God to their aid, I implore His help, and that of the Saints 
who wrought with such courage those very things which now 
aflftight us. It is not that I am good for anything, hut it seems 
to me that God helps those who for His Sake undertake great 
things, and that He never fails those who put their trust m Him 
alone. Thus I desire to find souls who will confirm me in this 
thought, and who will help me to have no further care for food 
and raiment, but to leave aU this to the Providence of God. 
By leaving all to God, I do not mean that I am not to take the 
ordinary care to procure the necessaries of life, I mean only 
that I am to do it without disquietude.. And since our Lord 
(I think about a year ago) gave me this interior hberty, I find 
it well to follow this course, and I try to forget myself as far 
as I can. 

* As to vain-glory, I have, thanks be to God, as far as I can 
judge, no groimd for it. I see clearly that I contribute nothing 
to the favours which my Divine Master bestows upon me. It 
has even pleased Him to give me thereby a deeper sense of my 
misery ; and in fact I feel that by no effort of thought which 
I could make during my whole life, could I arrive at the com- 
prehension of one only of those great truths of which I receive 
the knowledge in a rapture. 

* In time past I have ofben felt great confrision when the 
graces which Gtod bestows upon me have become known 
to others ; but for some time past I have ceased to feel this. 
I speak as easily of them as if they related to some other 
person, because I do not think myself on this accoimt better 
than I was before. On the contrary, I think myself still worse ; 



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There was never a Soul worse than her own. 67 

and that profusion of graces of which I have made so little 
use, makes me believe, without hesitation, that there has never 
been in this world a soul worse than my own. Therefore it 
seems to me that, while I do nothing but receive favours, 
others, by their virtues, acquire greater merits ; and that God 
will give them in one moment in Heaven, what He is pleased 
to give me here below ; this thought makes me beseech Him 
with all my heart not to give me my reward in this life. Thus 
I believe that it is because I am so weak and so wicked that 
God has led me by this way. 

* When I am in prayer, I could not, even if I would, desire 
any rest, nor ask it from our Lord, because I see that He 
never had any upon earth, but that He passed His life in con- 
tinual sufferings. I pray Him therefore not to spare me, but 
to give me grace to bear them. 

* All things of this kind, even those of the highest perfection, 
present themselves to me in prayer, and make so vivid an im- 
pression upon my mind, that I am lost in astonishment at their 
greatness. These truths are shown to me with such clearness, 
that the things of this world seem to me but folly. By this 
light I see that it is madness to make any account of the losses 
and sorrows of this life, or to be inconsolable at the death of 
Mends. Nevertheless, when I consider what I have been, and 
how sensible I used to be to all these things, I see that I have 
great need to watch over myself, lest I relapse into the same 
weakness and imperfection. 

* K I observe in any persons things which visibly seem to be 
sins, I cannot make up my mind to believe that they are thus 
offending God, because it seems to me that every one must 
desire hke myself to please Him. He has bestowed on me 
this signal grace, never willingly to fix my thoughts on the 
defects of others when presented to my mind. Instead of 
thinking of them I immediately begin to consider what there 
is good in those persons. Thus nothing afficts me but pubhc 
sins and heresies ; and by these I am ofben so deeply moved, 
that it seems to me to be the only trouble we ought to feel. I 
am sometimes sad, it is true, when I see spiritual persons fall 
back and neglect prayer, but this trouble is not great, because 
I try not to dwell upon it. 

f2 



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68 Life of S. Teresa. 

* I have far less curiosity than I used to have, although I do 
not always practise entire mortification in this respect, but 
only sometimes, 

* What I have just described, and an almost continual atten- 
tion to the Presence of God, is, as far as I can judge, the pre- 
sent state of my soul. Thus, when I am occupied with other 
things, I seem to be aroused, I know not by whom, to renew 
that attention. This does not happen always, but only when 
the affairs in which I am engaged are important ; and even then, 
thank God, these affairs do not occupy my whole mind, except 
for a few moments at a time. 

* There is a state of soul which comes upon me, though rarely, 
for three, four, or five days together : fervour, visions, in 
short, all good things are not only taken away from me, but so 
entirely effaced from my memory, that I could not if I would, 
recall to mind the sHghtest good there has ever been in me. 
All appears to me a dream ; at least, I cannot remember 
anything; my bodily infirmities almost overwhelm me, my 
mind is troubled ; I cannot form a thought of God ; I seem not 
to know under what law I am hving. K I read, I understand 
nothing of the book. I find myself ftdl of imperfections with 
no courage for virtue ; and the great courage which I usually 
have so entirely disappears, that I should be incapable, as it 
seems to me, of resisting the slightest temptation, or bearing 
a single word which the world might say against me. Then 
it comes into my head that I am good for nothing, that it has 
been a mistake to bring me out of the common way. I am 
troubled by the thought that I am deceiving all those who 
think well of me. I want to go and hide myself in some place 
where nobody could see me. It is not from virtue that I then 
desire soHtude, but from cowardice. Lastly, I feel interiorly 
moved to illtreat all those who attempt to contradict me. But 
God bestows this grace upon me, that in the midst of this 
conflict I do not offend Him more than usual. Far from 
asking Him to dehver me from this torture, I am ready to 
suffer it even to the end of my life ; and I accept it with all 
my heart : I beseech Him only to support me with His Hand, 
that I may not offend Him. Nay, I consider it a very great 
favour that He does not leave me always in this state. One 



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Practical effect of her Visions. 69 

thing whicli astomshes me at these tiines, is, that one onlj of 
those words which I am accustomed to hear, or a vision, or a 
recollection, lasting only for the space of a " Hail Mary," or the 
first step towards the Altar for Holy Communion, suddenly 
changes and purifies my soul, even restores health to my body, 
fills my understanding with light, and gives back to me my 
ordinary spiritual strength and desire after God. I have 
experienced this many times ; and for the last six months I 
have always felt great relief to my corporal infirmities when I 
communicate. The raptures also sometimes produce the same 
effect. Sometimes this bodily relief lasts for three hours, and 
sometimes for a whole day. I do not think there is any 
delusion here, for it is a fact which I have often carefully 
observed. Thus when I am in this state of recollection, I have 
no fear of any illness, but when I pray after my former 
manner, I do not experience this improvement in my health. 

* All these effects which I have described, make me believe 
that these things come from God. When I remember what I 
was, I feel that I wais in the way to perdition, and in a short 
space of time, these favours have so changed me that I can 
hardly recognise myself. I find within my soul virtues which 
astonish me, as I know not how they came there. I see that 
this is a pure gift, and not the fruit of my labours. That 
which I understand in all truth and clearness, and in which I 
know that I am not deceived, is, that Grod has not only used 
these means to draw me to His service, but also to deliver me 
from hell, as those of my confessors know who have heard my 
general confession. 

* When I meet with persons who know something of the 
great graces which God has bestowed on me, I wish that I 
might be allowed to tell them the whole history of my life ; 
for my only joy is that our Lord should be praised, and all 
the rest is nothing to me. My adorable Master knows this well ; 
and I am sure of this also, that in all things I seek His glory 
alone, and that besides that glory, neither honour, nor Hfe, nor 
glory, nor blessings of soul or body, nor any personal advantage 
has any charm or attraction for me. 

* I cannot believe that the devil would have procured for me 
such great benefits in order to draw me to him, and then 



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70 Life of 8. Teresa. 

destroy me ; I cannot suppose him so stupid. Besides, although 
I have deserved by my sins to be deceived and deluded by 
his artifices, I cannot believe that God has rejected all the 
earnest prayers which so many fervent souls have offered for 
me during the last two years, for I have never ceased to be- 
seech them to pray that of His goodness He would make 
known to me whether or not I am in the right way ; and that 
if I am going astray, He would be pleased to bring me back 
into it. No, our Divine Master would never have permitted 
all this, if what passes within me did not come from Him. 

* Whilst on the one hand the sohd arguments of so many 
holy and learned men whom I have consulted on this subject, 
and the sight of my own misery terrify me and make me 
fear I am deluded ; on the other, when I am in prayer, and on 
the days when I enjoy that sweet tranquillity in which I think 
only of God, though the most holy and saintly men in the 
world were to combine together to convince me that I am in 
error; though they were to inflict upon me all imaginable 
tortures to compel me to beHeve it, and though, on my side, 
I were to endeavour with all my power to agree with them, it 
would be impossible for me to persuade myself that the ines- 
timable favours I receive from God come from the devil. 

* It is true that at one time, when they have tried to persuade 
me of it, I have been agitated by many fears ; considering on 
the one side the merit and sincerity of those who undertook to 
prove it, and on the other that my xmfaithfulness well deserved 
such punishment. But at the first word, the first vision, the 
first moment of recollection, all the fears which they had 
sought to instil into me were dispelled, and I felt more con- 
firmed than ever in the belief that what passes within me 
comes from God. 

' Sometimes, it is true, certain things which come from the 
devil may be mingled with these favours, but the effects pro- 
duced by these illusions are so different from those which arise 
from graces received from God, that I cannot beHeve that a 
person with any experience could be deceived by them. Yet 
notwithstanding my foil persuasion that what passes within 
me proceeds from Gt)d, I would not for the world do the 
slightest thing without the approbation of my spiritual guide, 



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Obedience to Spiritual Guides. 71 

who serves onr Lord better than I do. Of all the words 
which have been spoken to me, there has never been one 
which has not commanded me to obey him, and to conceal 
nothing from him, and which has not taught me that this is 
my duty. 

* I am often reproved for my faults, and in such sort as seems 
to pierce through my very soul. The sins of my past life are 
brought before me so vividly that my heart is wrung with 
grief. At other times, I receive important counsels showing 
me the danger that there is, or may be, in some matter which 
I have in hand. 

* Although I have written at great length, it seems to me 
that I have not said enough of the great spiritual benefits 
which I find within me after prayer. But this does not 
prevent me from being full of imperfections, very useless, 
and very miserable. Perhaps from not understanding good 
things I am deceiving myself; but that which leads me to 
judge as I have done is the manifest change in my life. 

* I can, I think, assert that I have truly felt all that I have 
said. Such are the graces which our Lord has wrought in 
this miserable and imperfect creature. I submit it all to your 
judgment, for you now know ftilly the state of my soul. 

* Your unworthy servant and daughter, 

* Teeesa of Jesus.' 



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72 Life of 8. Teresa. 



CHAPTER YIII. 
1560. 

PEAKFTTL ASSAULTS OF THE EVIL OITE — DELIVERANCE OP A 
SOUL FEOM HIS POWER — ^VISION OP HELL. 

The consolation v^rliich S. Teresa derived from the encotirage- 
ment given lier by S. Peter of Alcantara was soon disturbed by 
fresh, assaults of the enemy of souls, who was now permitted to 
scare her by horrible visions, and even to inflict severe blows 
upon her; his fiiry being especially excited by the extraordinary 
efiect of her prayers in delivering sinners from his power. 

*J[ was once in a certain oratory,' says she, *when he 
appeared to me on my left side, in a horrible shape. I 
observed his mouth in particular while he spoke to me, and it 
was most terrible ; for it seemed that a very great flame came 
out of his body. He told me, in a fearful voice, that though I 
had escaped his hands, yet he would bring me back again. I 
was exceedingly terrified, but I blessed myself as well as I 
could, and he vanished away : but presently he returned again. 
This happened to me twice, and I knew not what to do. But 
as I had some holy water near me, I threw it towards the 
place where he was, and he returned no more. Another time 
he tormented me for five hours together with terrible pains, 
joined with such interior and exterior disgust, that it seemed 
impossible for me to endure it. The sisters who were then 
with me were astonished to see what passed ; but they knew 
not what to do, nor could I help myself. My custom is when 
any corporal sickness or pain is very intolerable, to make 
certain acts of resignation within myself, as well as I can, 
beseeching our Lord, that His Majesty may be pleased to give 
me patience, and that I may so suffer, if He please, even until 



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Effect of Hdy Water. 73 

the end of the world. Whenever then I fonnd myself in this 
state of siififering, I helped myself by making some such acts 
and resolntions, that so I might bear it the better. 

' Onr Lord was. pleased I should understand that I was 
tempted by the devil, for I saw near me a very horrible little 
negro, gnashing his teeth like one raging mad, as if he had 
lost something which he had hoped to gain. As soon as I 
saw him, I laughed, and showed no fear at aU, but the sisters 
who were near me knew not what to do with me in this case, 
nor what remedy to apply to so great a torment, for the blows 
he made me give myself were very severe, and I had no power 
at all to resist him : and what was still worse I felt so great 
inward disquiet, that I could in no way find any rest : neither 
did I dare to ask for holy water lest I should terrify those who 
were present, or let them know who was the cause of the 
mischief. I have often found, by experience, that there is 
nothing from which the devils fly more quickly, and that not 
to return, than from holy water ; they fly also from a cross, but 
return again inmiediately. Certainly the power of holy water 
must be great ; for my part, my soul feels a particular comfort 
in taking it ; and very generally a refreshment and interior 
delight which I cannot express, and which comforts my soul. 
This is no fancy, or a thing which has happened to me only 
once ; it has happened very often, and been observed by me 
with great attention. It is as if a person, suflering from 
heat and thirst, should drink a glass of cold water, which 
would greatly refresh him. I consider also, that whatever is 
ordained by the Church is of the greatest importance ; and it 
is a matter of great joy to me that those words which the 
Church uses when she blesses the water, should be so power- 
fdl in making such a diflerence between blessed and unblessed 
water. I told those who were present, aa my torment did not 
cease, that if they would not laugh at me, I would beg some 
holy water of them. They brought me some, and sprinkled 
me with it, but it did me no good. I sprinkled some myself in 
the place where the devil was, and in an instant he departed, 
and all my pains went away also, as if some one had removed 
them with his hand, except that I felt as much tired as if I 
had been severely beaten. I afterwards considered that if the 



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74 Life of S. Teresa. 

devil, when onr Lord permits Mm, is able to do so much 
miscliief to us in body and soul, even when we are not bis, 
what wHl he do to them who shall fall entirely into his power ? 
This consideration gave me fresh desires to be free from such 
ill company. 

* Another time I was in the choir, when I fell into a state of 
deep recollection, and I went away lest others might perceive 
it ; but all the nuns who were near heard great blows struck 
in the place from which I had retired. I also heard persons 
talking near me, as if they were contriving some plot, though 
I understood not the conversation, for I was so fixed in prayer 
that I understood nothing, neither had I any fear. This used 
to happen almost every time that our Lord did me the favour 
to confer a benefit on some soul by my advice. An eccle- 
siastic once came to me who had lived about two years and a 
half in a most grievous mortal sin ; and during all that period 
he neither confessed it nor reformed himself, but yet he pre- 
sumed to say Mass. And though he confessed his other sins, 
yet respecting that one he used to say to himself, " How can I 
ever confess so foul a crime ? " Still he was desirous of 
freeing himself from it, but he knew not how. I took great 
compassion on him, and was grieved to see God offended in 
such a way. I promised him to beg God to grant him some 
remedy, and that I would prevail on others to do the same, 
who were much better than myself. I accordingly gave him 
a letter to a certain person which he was to deliver himself; 
anid it so happened that he was thus led to confess his sin, and 
thus God was pleased by the prayers of these very holy 
persons (I also, miserable sinner that I am, not failing to beg 
that favour to the best of my power), to extend His mercy to 
this soul. The ecclesiastic wrote to tell me that he was 
already so far reformed, that some days had passed in which 
he had not returned to the sin, but that the torment which the 
temptation caused was so great, that he seemed to be in heU, 
and therefore that I must still recommend him to God. Upon 
this I once more commended him to my sisters, by whose 
prayers our Lord was pleased to grant this favour, for they 
took the matter exceedingly to heart. None of them knew 
for whom they were praying. I also besought the Lord to 



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Devils powerful only against the Cowardly. 75 

put an end to his torments and temptations, and to snfTer 
those devils to come and torment me, provided that I might 
not be led to offend onr Lord in anything. And it is quite 
true, that shortly after this I had to endnre most grievous 
torments for the space of a month. But our Lord was pleased, 
as I have since learned, that the devils should not afflict that 
person any more : his soul was strengthened, and became 
quite free, so that he could not be satisfied with giving thanks 
to our Lord, and to me also, as if I had done anything ; the 
conviction, however, which he had that our Lord sometimes 
bestowed favours on me, might have been of some benefit to 
him. He used to say that when he found himself greatly 
assaulted, he was accustomed to read my letters, and that then 
the temptation immediately left him. He was much amazed to 
hear what I suffered, and how he came himself to be free. 
May our Lord be praised by all men ; for the prayers of those 
who truly serve Him, as I believe my sisters do in this house, 
can do much ; but because I had procured those prayers, the 
devils were exasperated against me, and our Lord permitted 
it for my sins. 

* Ajiother time I saw a multitude round about me ; but it 
seemed to me that I was encompassed with a great light, 
which did not allow them to approach me. I understood by 
this, that our Lord kept them from coming near me, so 
that they might not make me offend God. Now, therefore, I 
do not fear them at all, for their strength is a mere nothing, 
unless they find the souls they attack to be cowardly, 
and that they yield to them ; then, indeed, they show their 
power. Sometimes in the temptations I have already men- 
tioned, it seemed that all the vanities and weaknesses of my 
former life revived in me, so that I had great need to recom- 
mend myself frequently to God ; then I was presently tor- 
mented with the apprehension that all that passed within me 
came from the devil, till at last my confessor comforted me ; 
for it seemed to me that even the first motion of an evil 
thought ought not to be entertained by anyone who had 
received such great favours from our Lord. At other times I 
am tormented to see myself so much esteemed, and especially 
now, that eminent persons should esteem me so much, and 



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76 Life of 8. Teresa. 

speak such good things of me. In this I have suffered, and 
still snffer much ; and presently I consider the life of Christ 
and of the Saints, and methinks I walk in a way very contrary 
to theirs, hecanse they endured nothing but contempt and 
injuries. This consideration makes me so fear^, that I 
scarcely dare raise up my head, and would be glad not to be 
seen. This does not happen to me when I am suffering perse- 
cution, however much I may be afflicted in body or mind ; for 
then my soul seems to be mistress in a way that I do not 
understand; she then seems to be in her kingdom, and to 
tread all things under her feet. This state of fear sometimes 
lasted many days ; and it appeared to me to be virtue and 
humihty, but now I am sensible it was a temptation ; as a 
Dominican father, a very learned man, showed me very clearly. 
When I thought that those favours which our Lord was 
pleased to show me would be pubhcly known, it was so ex- 
cessive a torment to me, that it troubled my soul exceedingly. 
I thought I could more willingly have consented to be buried 
ahve ; and so when I began to have those very great recol- 
lections and raptures, in such a way that it was impos- 
sible for me to resist them, I remained afterwards so con- 
founded with shame, that I wished to be where no one could 
see me. 

* Being once extremely afflicted at this, our Lord said to me : 
" Of what art thou so much a&aid ? Only one of these two 
things can happen : either they will find fault with thee, or 
they will praise Me" — meaning that they who believed it 
would praise Him, and that they who did not believe it would 
condemn me, without any fault of mine ; and that as both 
these thiags would prove an advantage to me, I had no reason 
to be thus troubled. These words comforted me very much, 
and do comfort me still whenever I call them to mind. The 
temptation went so far, that I was desirous of leaving the 
convent in which I was, and of retiring to another much more 
strictly enclosed, and in which great austerities were practised. 
I was the more drawn to that house because it was very far 
off, so that I might have hoped in that place to remain un* 
known; but my confessor would never give his consent. 
These fears greatly deprived me of liberty of spirit, and afber- 



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FearfvX Vision of Hell. 77 

wards I came to understand that this was no good Immility, 
since it gave me so mncli disquiet ; our Lord then taught me 
this truth, that if I were convinced and assured I had no 
good whatever in me, but that it all came from God, it would 
follow that just as I was not sorry to hear other persons 
praised, but was rather glad and greatly comforted that in 
them God manifested Himself, so neither should I be sorry 
that His works shoxQd be shown also in me.' 

The last revelation recorded by S. Teresa as preceding those 
relating to the foundation of her reform, is that terrific vision 
of hell, which, when she wrote of it six years afterwards, still 
chilled her blood with fear, and which still thrills with terror 
all who read it. 

* After our Lord had bestowed those favours upon me which 
I have already related, as well as many others, which were 
very great. He was pleased that one day, while I was at 
prayer, I should find myself (without knowing how) in a 
moment lodged in hell. I understood that our Lord was 
pleased to let me see the place which the devils had prepared 
for me there, and which I should have deserved by the sins 
into which I should have fallen had I not changed my Hfe. 
This vision lasted only for a very short time ; but yet, if I 
should Hve many years, it seems impossible that I should ever 
forget it. The entrance seemed to be like a long close alley, 
or rather like a low, dark, and narrow cavity ; and the ground 
appeared to be Hke mire, exceedingly filthy, and having a 
horrible stench, and frill of a multitude of loathsome vermin. 
At the end of it there was a certain hollow place, as if it had 
been a kind of little press in the wall, into which I found 
myself thrust, and closely pent up. All that I have yet de- 
scribed might pass for deHghtfal, in comparison with what I 
felt in this press ; the torment was so dreadftd that no words 
can express the least part of it. 

* I felt a fire in my soxQ, which I cannot express or describe, 
as it was in reality. All those other most grievous and 
almost insufferable torments which I have endured by the 
shrinking up of all my sinews, and in other ways (which in 
the judgment of physicians, were the greatest that could be 
suffered, in a corporal way, in this world), and some also 



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78 Life of S. Teresa. 

which were caused by the devil, were all a mere nothing in 
comparison with what I suffered there, joined with the dismal 
thought that all this suffering was to be without end or in- 
termission. And even this is still nothing, if compared with 
the continual agony the soul suffers; that pressing, that 
stifling, that anguish so exceedingly sensible, together with 
such desperate torturing discontent and disgust, that I cannot 
express it. To say it is a butchering or rending of the soul, 
is to say little ; for this would seem to express a violence, used 
by some other agent to destroy her. But here she is her own 
executioner, and even tears herself in pieces. I saw not who 
it was that tormented me ; but I seemed to be both burnt and 
cut in pieces, and in so dreadful a place there was no room 
for the least hope of ever meeting with any comfort or ease ; 
neither was there any room to sit or lie down. Thus was 
I thrust into this place like a hole in the wall ; and these 
walls, which are also most horrible to the sight, press in upon 
their prisoner, so that she is choked and stifled. There is 
nothing but thick darkness, without the least glimpse of 
light ; and yet, I know not how it is, though there is no 
light, yet all that can afflict the sight is visible. 

* Our Lord was not pleased that I should see any more of 
hell at that time. But afterwards I had another vision of 
most terrible things, as punishments inflicted for certain 
particular vices ; and these as far as I could judge of them by 
the sight, seemed to be more hideous than the former. But 
as I did not feel the pain, they did not so much affi*ight me as 
the first vision. Our Lord was pleased that I should really feel 
those torments and that affliction of spirit, as if my very 
body had been suffering them. I knew not how all this could 
be ; but I understood very clearly that it was a great favour, 
and that our Lord was pleased that I should see, by the sight 
of my own eyes, from what a place His great mercy had 
delivered me. It is nothing to have heard people talk of 
hell, nor to have meditated on various kinds of torments ; all 
is nothing to this, since it is quite a different thing : and, 
indeed, the torments of this world are no more than a mere 
picture ; and the burning here in this life is but a trifle in 
comparison with the fire of hell. I was so astonished and 



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Love of Souls enJdncUed thereby. 79 

amazed at this sight (and so I am even now while I am 
writing, though it happened six years ago) that at the thought 
of it my blood seems to be chilled in my veins throngh fear. 
And whatever troubles or pains I now suffer, if I do but call 
to my remembrance what I then endured, immediately all that 
can be suffered in this life seems to be nothing at all. I 
therefore say again, that this was one of the greatest favours 
which our Lord has ever shown me ; for it has been of very 
great benefit to me, both in making me lose all fear about the 
tribulations and contradictions of this life, and giving me 
strength to bear them ; and also in teaching me to give thanks 
to our Lord, for delivering me (as I may now believe) from. 
those dreadful and never-ending torments. 

* Since that time all seems easy to me, in comparison with 
one moment of such suffering as I then endured. I wondered, 
that having so often read books which give an account of some 
of the torments of hell, I yet feared them so little, and did 
not regard them as I ought to have done. Considering in 
what state I once was, I was also astonished to see how it 
was possible for me to take pleasure in anything that was 
likely to bring me at last to so bad a place. Be Thou eter- 
nally blessed, my Grod ! For how well hast Thou made it 
appear, that Thou didst love me incomparably better than I 
loved myself! How often, Lord! hast Thou delivered me 
from that dark and horrible dungeon ! And how often have I 
returned to cast myself into it again, even against Thy will ! 
This vision caused me to feel very great pain on account of 
the many souls which are condemned to this prison, especially 
the Lutherans, because they had once been members of the 
Church by their baptism. It was followed also by strong 
impxQses to do good to souls ; so that it seems to me very 
certain, that for the delivery of any one of them from such 
excessive torments, I could very willingly suffer many deaths. 

* I consider that if we see a person in this world, whom we 
love dearly, in any great pain or aflBiction, it seems that 
our natural disposition invites us to compassion. And, 
therefore, to see a soul which is for ever to endure that 
supreme aflBiction, and misery of all miseries, who shall be 
able to bear it ? Surely, no heart can endure it without great 



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80 Life of S. Tereea. 

grief. And since in tliis world we are moved to so much 
compassion for those whose misery at the farthest is to end 
with their Hves, I know not how we can be at rest, considering 
what a vast number of souls the devil daily takes with him to 
heU. 

* This also makes me desire most intensely, that, hpi a busi- 
ness of so great importance, we shoxQd not be satisfied with 
less than doing all we can on our part, and leaving nothing 
unattempted; and I beseech our Lord to give us His grace 
for this purpose. When I consider that although I was 
formerly very wicked, yet I was somewhat careM to serve 
Gk)d ; nor did I then commit certain sins which are swallowed 
down by the world as if they were nothing ; and though I had 
endured most dreadfal sickness with much patience which 
our Lord gave me, and also I was not inclined to murmur, or 
to detract, or to speak ill of anybody ; nor was I covetous or 
envious, as far as I can remember, in any way, so as grievously 
to oflfend Grod, for though I was so wicked, I usually had the 
fear of Gt)d before me; yet, notwithstanding all this, I see 
where the devils had provided me a lodging : hence I conclude, 
that it is a dangerous thing to be contented with slight 
efforts when eternity is at stake ; and, above all, that a soul 
ought to know neither peace nor rest, which is falling at every 
step into mortal sin/ 



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Firat Idea of the Reform. 81 



CHAPTER IX. 
1560. 

IBRESA'S PIBST idea op her KEPORM — MOTIVBS POR UNDER- 
TAKING IT — PEAST OF M0T7NT CARHEL — ^HART OP OCAMFO — 
0T7R LORD COMHAITDS THAT THE WORK SH0T7LD BE BEGUN 
— CONSULTATION WITH 8. PETER OP ALCANTARA, S. LOUIS 
BERTRAND, AND P. ALVAREZ — THE PROVINCIAL GIVES HIS 
CONSENT TO THE FOUNDATION — COMHOTION RAISED IN THE 
CITY AND CONVENT— CONSULTATION WITH P. IBAffEZ— THE 
PROVINCIAL WITHDRAWS HIS CONSENT — P. ALVAREZ COMMANDS 
THE SAINT TO RELINQUISH HER UNDERTAKING. 

It was while the terrors of this vision were full in the 
mind of S. Teresa, and the woeftd tidings of the loss of souls 
by the Lutheran apostasy were still ringing in her ears, that 
the idea of her great reform was first divinely impressed upon 
her mind. Not that she then dreamed of such a work as she 
was eventually enabled to carry out, in the restoration of the 
Order of Mount Oarmel to its primitive perfection. But her 
heart was consumed by the love of Jesus, and the love of the 
souls for whom He died ; her eyes had been opened to behold 
the anguish of hell, and the bHss of Paradise, and to measure 
the length and depth of that dread for ever, the thought of 
which had haunted her when a child. What could she do for 
Jesus, what could she do for souls F 

The course she adopted seems strange to the wisdom of this 
world, for it cut her off from many apparent means of spiritual 
usefrdness ; these were indeed already restricted by her sex and 
her position; she could not preach to perishing sinners, or 
w^gae vnth obstinate heretics. Nevertheless the unrestrained 
intercourse with extems, and the freedom of egress from the 
convent, permitted in the then relaxed state of the rule, 

a 



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82 Life of S. Teresa. 

afforded many opportunities of doing good to souls 6f wMcli 
her past experience must have shown her the value ; neither 
could she be ignorant of the influence for good which she 
possessed over all who came within the sphere of her attrac- 
tion, for she tells us, that by the special favour of our Lord, 
she was always loved by those amongst whom she was placed. 

What then was the motive which impelled her to bury all 
her gifts and powers within the narrow boundary of a strictly 
cloistered convent ? We shall find it in the vow she had made 
to God to do always the most perfect thing in His sight. Her 
perfection as a CarmeHte nun must consist in the perfect 
observance of her rule, and by that perfect fulfilment alone 
could she render to God that * greater glory * for which He 
had created her, and give that eflS^cacy to her fervent inter- 
cession for sinners which belongs to the prayers of those who 
do His will. And herein is this exalted Saint a patten^ to 
the feeblest and the least amongst ourselves. That she gave 
herself to a life of prayer belonged to her high vocation as a 
contemplative nun ; that she gave herself to it as the duty of 
her state of life belonged to that calling which she shares with 
all baptized believers in Him, who said to the mixed multitude 
of His disciples : ' Be ye perfect,' and who has made the 
efficacy of our prayers and our labours for the souls of others, 
so awfully dependent upon the faithful keeping of our own. 

On the evening of July 16, 1560, a loving band were 
gathered together in Teresa's cell to keep the festival of our 
Lady of Mount Carmel. There was the Saint herself with 
her burning heart so lately pierced by the Seraph's lance, and 
her deep eyes ' beautiful with gazing upon God.' There was 
her faithful friend Jane Suarez, the first linlr in the provi* 
dential chain which drew her to Carmel, now in the decline of 
life, and approaching the predestined glory which had been 
long before revealed as hers to her saintly companion; and 
in company with the two holy nuns were five young maidens, 
still in the secular state, all kinswomen and spiritual children 
of S. Teresa, under whose care they had been brought up in 
the Convent of the Incarnation, all hereafter to be religious of 
her reform. Mary of Ocampo and her sister Eleanora, nieces 
of the Saint ; Isabella de Cepeda, her great niece ; and Agues 



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What to do f(yr God? 83 

and Anne de Tapia, her cousins. The conversation liad 
tamed upon tlie hindrances to a life of strict retirement and 
recollection in a conmmnity consisting of one hundred and 
ninety nuns, exposed to constant intercourse with extems, and 
harassed by continual anxiety about temporal matters, arising 
from the insufficiency of means for the support of .so large 
a number of religious. It was a theme ever present to the 
thoughts of Teresa, who, as we have seen, had been strongly 
tempted to escape from the trials of her present position, by 
taking shelter in some distant and strictly enclosed convent. 

She thus describes the conflict which had long distracted 
her mind upon this subject: — 

' Having now seen all these great things, and having heard 
many secrets which our Lord through His mercy was pleased 
to show me, concerning the glory which is prepared for the 
good, and the torments prepared for the wicked ; and desiring, 
therefore, to find out some way and method whereby I mighlt 
do penance for all the sins I had com^nitted, and be enabled 
to do something towards obtaining so great a glory, I was 
desirous of flying from the world, and avoiding once for all 
the company of men. My heart could find no rest ; but this 
restlessness was not troublesome to me, but sweet and delight- 
ful. It was evident that it came from Grod, and that His 
Majesty had given heat enough to my soul for digesting other 
stronger meats than she had before eaten. And now I began 
to consider what I could do for God : the first thing I thought 
of was to foUow the call which He had given me to a religious 
life, and to observe my rule with the greatest possible per- 
fection. And though there were in the house where I Hved 
many servants of God, by whom He was greatly served, yet 
as they were in great want of temporal means, many of the 
nuns were often obUged to go abroad to seek assistance ; 
though they did so with all due decorum and piety; and, 
besides, that house was not founded according to the first 
rigour of the rule, but that rule only was observed which was 
conformable with the practice of the rest of the Order, accord- 
ing to the Bull of the Pope granting a relaxation. There were 
also some other inconveniences. It seemed to me, that the 
place was too good, as the house was large and pleasant ; and 

o2 



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84 Life of 8. Teresa. 

the evil practice of leaving the monasteiy liad become very 
troublesome to me, for it affected me more than others, becanse 
some persons, whose wishes the superior could not refuse, 
were pleased that I should accompany them when they went 
out, and the superiors being importuned by them, commanded 
me to do so : and thus I grew accustomed to remain but sel- 
dom in the monastery.' 

Such had long been Teresa's anxious communings with her 
own heart. But it was not her voice which now gave them 
utterance. Perhaps they lay too deep for words. 

It was Mary d'Ocampo, the most thoughtless, as it seemed, 
of the party, who first clothed in words the idea which 
had so long been deeply cherished. This young maiden had 
for some time past been a source of no little anxiety to her 
holy kinswoman, who seemed to see her own days of youthfdl 
vanity rise once more before her in the person of her beautiM 
and gifted niece. Notwithstanding all her carefol convent 
training, Mary of Ocapipo at seventeen was as foil of the love 
of pleasure, as carefol in the adornment of her person, as much 
attached to all the refinements of life, as Teresa d'Ahumada 
had been when she reluctantly entered the Augustinian 
convent thirty years before. But if she resembled her aunt 
in this passing season of worldliness, she resembled her also 
in the truth and purity of her nature, as she was to resemble 
her in the supernatural life of grace; and it was with an 
intense energy like her own that the noble-hearted girl ex- 
claimed : ' ''fVell ! then, let us aU who are here assembled go 
hence and lead a solitary life like the hermits of the desert ; 
if you have the courage to live like the discalced Franciscans 
there wiU be no diflS^culty in founding a convent.' 

The words fell like a spark of fire upon the long-smothered 
hopes of the Saint : this her own cherished child was then to 
lay the first stone of her reform ; for, when something was 
said of the difficulty of finding means for the foundation, 
Mary cut short the discussion by promising a thousand ducats 
of her own property for the purpose. 

It was a generous offer, and it was made to One Who has 
never yet suffered Himself to be outdone in generosity; on that 
very night our Lord appeared to her and testified His accept- 



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Our Lord commaiida Iter to begin the ReforTn. 85 

ance of her gift, rewarding it by the inestimable grace of a- 
vocation to Carmel. Six months after the foundation of the 
first convent of the reform, she received the religious habit, 
with the name of Mary of John Baptist, and became after- 
wards, as prioress of the Convent at Valladohd, one of the 
Saint's most efficient fellow-labourers in the formation of her 
religious. 

Teresa, seeing the way thus opened for the execution of her 
long-cherished purpose, took counsel with her faithftil Mend, 
Ghiiomar d'Ulloa, who eagerly proffered her aid in a work 
which promised to bring such glory to God. They both re- 
commended the matter fervently to our Lord, from Whom 
Teresa soon received an express command to proceed to the 
work without delay. 

' One day after I had communicated, His Majesty earnestly 
commanded me to endeavowr to accomplish His object with all 
m/y strength, promising me at the same time, that the moruistery 
should certainly be established, a/nd that He would be greatly 
served m it ; that it should be called by the name of 8, Joseph ; 
that He himself would giua/rd us at one gate, and His Mother, 
our Lady, at another ; that He would continue with us, a/nd that 
the pla^e would become like a sta/r, which would shine with great 
splendou/r ; and that though other convents were then relaxed, yet 
'men must not think He was but little served therein; and what 
would become of the world, vjere it not for religious orders ? I 
was told to inform my coniessor of all that had been said to 
me, and that our Lord wished him not to oppose my design, • 
nor to put any obstacle in the way. This vision was followed 
by such great effects, and the words used therein were uttered 
in such a manner, that I could not possibly doubt of their 
having come from God.' 

In spite of this conviction, the devil contrived to stir up a 
thousand doubts and fears within the heart of Teresa to 
hinder the execution of the Divine command. Never had the 
home, in which she had now dwelt for four-and-twenty years, 
seemed so lovely in her eyes, as now that by her own act she 
was about to sever herself from it for ever. The Convent of 
the Incarnation, which remains to the present day much as it 
was in the time of S. Teresa, is surrounded by every natural 



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86 Life of S. Teresa. 

beauty, whicli conld lay liold on a heart alive like hers to all 
that is glorions in the works of God and man. It is described 
by F. Bonix, who devoutly visited it, as standing at a Kttle 
distance fix)m the city of Avila, in a deHghtftd valley. * It 
contains,' he says, * a fine chtirch, magnificent cloisters, and a 
spacious garden and orchard, watered by a clear and abundant 
stream.' 

Amongst the hundred-and-ninety religious with whom she 
had hved so long, there were many, no doubt, whom she 
loved, and who loved her, with that deep enduring affection, 
passing even the love of natural kindred, which our Lord 
sometimes gives, over and above His own, to those who have 
left all for His sake, as a part of the * hundredfold ' promised 
them in this life. But more than all, it was here that she had 
dwelt all those years with Him ; here that He had knocked so 
long and so patiently at the door of her heart ; here that, 
when it was at last opened, she in her turn had waited so 
penitently and so patiently for Him, through the long night of 
dreary desolation which had given place to so glorious a 
morrow. In those cloisters and gardens she had walked side 
by side with Him. Here had her heart been enkindled by the 
Seraph's dart with that burning love which could find relief 
only in the sublime vow which bound her freewill as a per- 
petual holocaust to His altar, and was now urging her once 
more to leave her kindred and her Father's house (her 
spiritual kindred and the house of her Heavenly Father) to 
go, she knew not whither, save that it was into a land which 
He would show her. It was a rending asunder of her whole 
being, perhaps more painfiil than the struggle which preceded 
her first entrance into reHgion. All the trials and diflS^culties 
which would beset the undertaking before her were also 
vividly represented to her mind, so that, as she tells us, she 
* experienced the greatest affiction.' 

*I considered how extremely happy I was in my first house ; 
and that though I had long ago begun to think about this 
matter, it had not been with any determination nor with any 
certaiaty that it would succeed. It seemed, however, that the 
reward I should have for accomplishing it was placed before 
me, yet when I foresaw what great trouble the undertaking 



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Letter from 8. Louis Bertrand. 87 

wonld give me, I began to doubt what I should do. But our 
Lord again spoke to me so many times on the subject, and 
represented to me so many reasons for undertaking it, that I 
saw clearly it was His will I should do so, and I thought of 
nothing else but of acquainting my confessor with the matter, 
and I gave him in* writing a statement of what had taken 
place.' 

F. Alvarez was unwilling to contradict his holy penitent, or 
absolutely to forbid the prosecution of her design, which 
seemed to him in the highest degree difficult, if not impracti- 
cable. He therefore got rid of the responsibility of giving a 
decision, by referring her to that of her Provincial, which he 
probably thought woxQd put an end to the matter. Before 
applying to the Provincial of the Cannes, Teresa took counsel 
of the two great lights of the orders of S. Francis and S. 
Dominic, then in Spain, S. Peter of Alcantara, and S. Louis 
Bertrand, the Apostle of the Lidies. The reply given by both 
these holy men was in the highest degree encouraging. The 
letter of S. Louis contained moreover a prophecy ; the exact 
ftdfilment of which was brought forward in the process of his 
canonisation. It is as follows : — 

'Mother Teresa. 

* I have received your letter ; and because the matter 
concerning which you have asked my opinion so greatly 
concerns the service of God, I desired to recommend it to Him 
in my sacrifices and in my poor prayers (for which reason I 
have thus long delayed my reply). Now I bid you, in the 
name of our Lord, to take courage and go forward in your 
glorious enterprise, for He will help and prosper you. And 
on His part I assure you that before fifty years are past, your 
Bicligion shall be one of the most illustrious in the Church of 
God. May He have you in His holy keeping, &c. 

*Br. Louis Bertrand. 
*From Valentia.* 

The approbation most necessary to the work, that of Angelo 
Salazar, Provincial of the Carmes, was now alone wanting. 
The Saint had never conferred with him on the affairs of her 
fioul, or on the revelations which she had received concerning 



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88 Life of S. Teresa. 

the establislunent of her refonn ; and fearing that he wonld pay 
little heed to the suggestions of a poor, sohtary, and (as he 
might probably think) visionary nun, she employed DoSa 
Gniomar to open the matter to him. 'The lady,' says S. 
Teresa, * spoke to him, and told him that she wished to erect a 
new monastery. The Provincial very reacRly gave his consent, 
for he was a friend to all religious orders ; and so he gave her 
all the Hberty and power that were necessary, and told her 
that he would accept the house. They then settled the 
revenue that it should have, and that the community should 
not consist of more than thirteen religious, to which number 
we had always wished to limit it, and that for many reasons.' 

The Provincial having been found so favourable to the 
design, F. Alvarez also gave his consent, to the great joy of 
the Saint, who was now in perfect peace and tranquillity, seeing 
that her great design was approved, not only by our Lord 
Himself, but by His ministers on earth. 

All things seemed now ready for execution, and measures 
were taken secretly for the purchase of a small house on the 
site of which the present Convent of S. Joseph stands. The 
legal instruments were in preparation, and several religious 
from the Convent of the Incarnation were waiting to accom- 
pany Teresa to the new foundation, when a storm burst forth 
which threatened destruction to all her hopes. 

'As soon,' says she, *as our intention began to be known in 
the town, there instantly arose such a violent storm of persecu- 
tion as cannot be described in words. The scoffs, the jeers, 
the laughter, the exclamations that it was a ridiculous, silly 
undertaking, were more than I can describe. They said that 
I was mad to think of leaving a convent where I was so well 
off; but th^y persecuted my companion to such a degree that 
she could hardly bear it. As to myself, I knew not what to 
do; for they had some apparent reason for what they said. 
In this distress I recommended myself to God, and then His 
Majesty began to comfort and encourage me, and told me 
that now I might see through what difficulties those saints 
had passed who had founded rehgious orders in the Church ; 
and that I was to suffer many more persecutions than I could 
imagine, but that I must not be troubled at them. He told 



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Vehement Opposition in the City. 89 

me also some tkings whicli I was to tell my companion ; and 
that which astonished me most was, that we were instantly 
consoled respecting what had passed, and enconraged to bear 
up against all trials that were to come. I am qnite certain 
that there was hardly any person in the town, even of the 
devout sort, who did not oppose us, and look upon our under- 
taking as a " great folly." ' 

To such a height was the persecution carried, that absolu- 
tion was reftised to Doiia Guiomar by more than one priest, 
*' until she shoxQd remove the scandal which she was occasion- 
ing in the city.' Neither she nor her holy companion, how- 
ever, wavered in their conviction that the work was of Grod, 
and that in His own good time He would bring it to pass ; but 
in order, if possible, to quiet the tumxQtuous opposition which 
had been excited in the city, they resolved to consult F. Peter 
IbaSez, reader of theology in the Convent of the Friars 
Preachers, who was accounted the most learned man at that 
time in the city of Avila, and highly esteemed also for his 
sanctity. 

S. Teresa thus relates the circumstances of this appeal and 
its resxQts : — 

' My companion went, therefore, to a very learned man, who 
was a great servant of God, and belonged to the order of 
S. Dominic, and told him all that had passed, stating that 
the revenue she had intended to settle on the convent came 
out of her own estate, and that she wished he would assist us, 
because he was the most learned man in the town at that 
time ; indeed, there were few so learned in the whole Order. 
I told him likewise all that we intended to do, and gave hiTn 
some reasons for the undertaking ; but I did not mention any 
of my revelations; I only dwelt on those natural motives 
which struck me, because I wished him not to give any 
opinion but what was conformable to them. He answered, 
that he wished to have eight days to consider the matter ; he 
also asked us whether we were determined to do whatever he 
should tell us, and I assured him we were. But though I 
said so much, and methinks I would have done as I promised, 
yet, never did I lose the confidence that the convent would be 
established. The faith and confidence of my companion were 



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90 lAfe of 8. Teresa. 

still greater than my own, for whatever people might say to 
her, she was resolved never to give np the project. But, 
though I considered it to be quite certain that the work woxQd 
be accomplished, so deeply was I convinced that the revela- 
tion concerning it was true (supposing it to contain nothing 
against Holy Scripture, or the decrees of the Church, which 
we are bound to observe), yet if this learned man had told me 
that we could not effect our design without offending our 
Lord, and going against a good conscience, I think I should 
instantly have abandoned it, and have sought for some other 
means of serving our Lord. But He gave me no other light 
at that time. This servant of God told me, sometime after- 
wards, that he had careftdly considered the matter, and had 
come to the resolution of doing all in his power to induce us 
to abandon the undertaking, because the opposition of the 
people had already come to his ears, and also because everyone 
considered it to be a foolish thing. And a certain gentleman, 
as soon as he heard that we intended to speak with this 
Father, had sent word to him, and advised him to consider 
well what he did. But now when he began to consider what 
answer he should give, and to reflect seriously on the matter, 
and upon our intention, and the regularity and devotion which 
we intended to introduce into the convent, he came to the 
conclusion, that its establishment woxQd tend much to the 
honour of God, and that we should on no account abandon 
our project; and hence he advised us to make all possible 
haste to bring the matter to a conclusion, and he gave us his 
own opinion as to the best method we should adopt ; and told 
us, that though the revenue was small, Gt)d was to be trusted, 
and that whoever opposed the design should be sent to him, 
for he knew well what answer to give them. 

* From that moment he has never ceased to assist us. With 
these words we went away much comforted, and we found 
that some holy persons who had before been opposed to us, 
were now not only much more satisfied, but were ready to 
help us. Amongst them was that devout knight (Don Francis 
Salcedo) who, knowing that our work aims at great perfec- 
tion (as indeed it does, because it is wholly founded on prayer) 
gave us his opinion, that however difficult its accomplishment 



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The Provincial refuses his Consent 91 

seemed to be, having no apparent probability of success, yet 
it might well be an nndertaking inspired by God. Now our 
Lord may have disposed him to be of this mind, and the 
priest also (Master Daza), that servant of God whom I had 
consxQted long ago, who is a pattern for all the town, and one 
whom Gt)d has visibly placed there for the advancement of 
many sonls. He now came forward to assist me in the 
business. 

* We had thus so far succeeded, by the help of many prayers, 
for we bought a house, though a smaU one, in a good part of 
the town ; but its smallness did not trouble me at all, for our 
Lord had told me before that I should take possession as well 
as I could, and that afterwards I should see what His Majesty 
would do ; and this promise I have strictly performed. And 
thus, though I found we had but little means, yet I believed 
our Lord would so arrange matters that we should be assisted 
in other ways.' 

Great was the consolation which the Saint derived from the 
encouragement of so holy and learned a man as F. IbafJez ; 
greater still perhaps her satisfaction in the heart-felt sympathy 
now shown in her undertaking by her two old and faithftJ, 
though somewhat trying, friends, Francis Salcedo and Master 
Daza ; but worse troubles were to come. The day before the 
purchase of the house was to be completed, Doiia Guiomar 
went to ask the Provincial for his promised licence for the 
foundation ; well did F. Salazar remember the pledge he had 
given, nor could he in conscience and honour withdraw it ; on 
the other hand, he was terrified at the tumult in the city, and 
the great discomposure of his subjects, the nuns of the Licar- 
nation, who looked upon the attempt to found a reformed 
convent as a slight upon themselves. He bethought himself, 
therefore, of a middle course, whereby, without the shame of 
breaking his word, he might soothe all these perturbed spirits. 
He told DoHa Guiomar that the endowment which she proposed 
to make was insufficient, and that he could not permit the 
foundation. 

Here was a new affliction for otlr Saint, to which her 
confessor soon added a still keener trial. As soon as F. Alvarez 
heard of the Provincial's refdsal to accept the house, he felt 



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92 Life of S. Teresa. 

justified in his own xinfavoilrable views of the project, and 
wrote to her with no little severity, bidding her to lay aside 
at once an idea which she must now see to have been simply 
the offspring of her own imagination, to consider the scandal 
she had thereby occasioned, and never again to contemplate 
any such foundation. 

' By this refasal of the Provincial,' says the Saint, * all the 
former objections were confirmed, namely, that the project was 
the foolishness of women, &c, ; and I had to bear all these 
complaints and murmurs, though up to this time the Provincial 
had sanctioned the work. In the meantime, I was in very 
bad odour in the house where I was, because I wished to 
establish one more strictly enclosed, they said, I affronted 
them (by m/y new project) ; that there was nothing to hinder me 
from serving Ood as well there as in another place ; that there 
were persons there much better tlum myself; that I had no love 
for the convent ; that I should ha/ve done much better to procwre 
revenues for that house thoM for a/ny other pUbce. Some even 
said that I ought to be thrown into prison ; some few there 
were who feebly took my part. 

' I saw clearly that those who opposed me had reasons for 
many things they said, and sometimes I tried to e3q)lain things 
to them ; though as I could not tell them the principal motive 
(which was the command of our Lord), I generally held my 
peace, not knowing what to say. Our Lord granted me one 
great grace, that all this affair of the monastery troubled not 
my peace, for I gave it up with as much pleasure and facility 
as if it had cost me nothing. But this no one could believe, 
not even those persons of prayer with whom I used to converse, 
for they thought I was stiU full of trouble and shame ; even 
my confessor could hardly believe the contrary. But, as I 
thought I had done all that lay in my power to falfil our 
Lord's conmiand, it seemed to me I was no longer obliged to 
do anything farther. I remained in the house, where I was 
quite content and at my ease, but I could never help behoving 
that, though I neither knew how nor when, the work would 
certainly be accomplished.' 

The severe reprimand of her confessor was the only part of 
the present trial which disturbed the tranquilUty of the Saint. 



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Encouragement from our Lord. 93 

She had borne the clamonrs of the city, and the still more 
trying censnres of her sisters in religion, with an eqnanimity 
which edified all who witnessed it, and astonished F. Alvarez 
himself ; but his letter troubled her greatly. 

*This letter, I confess,' says she, *gave me greater pain 
than all my other troubles put together, because I then began 
to think whether I might not have been the cause of all the 
evil, and whether I had not committed an error whereby God 
might have been offended ; nay, I even began to fear whether 
my visions might have been illusions, and my whole course of 
prayer have been from the devil ; and whether, in a word, I 
were not then in a state of error and perdition. These 
thoughts so overpowered me that I fell into the most profound 
grief and trouble. But our Lord, who was never wanting to 
me in all my afflictions, now comforted and strengthened me. 
He told me that I should not trouble rmjaelf ; that I had served 
Hvm well, and had not offended Him, m this matter, 

* In the meantime. He told me that I should do what my 
confessor commanded me, by keeping silence, tiU a fit time 
should come to resume the matter. After this, I felt so much 
contentment and consolation that the afflictions which came 
upon me seemed to be a mere nothing. Hereby our Lord 
showed me what an immense benefit it is to endure troubles 
and persecutions for His sake, because so much had the love 
of God increased in my soul, as well as other virtues, that I 
was amazed at it, and this is why I cannot help desiring afflic- 
tions.* In the meantime, other persons thought I was quite 
dejected with what had happened ; and this, indeed, would 
have been the case, had not our Lord been pleased to support 
and favour me with such extraordinary graces. It was at this 
time that greater impetuosities of divine love, and greater 
raptures than any which I had before experienced, began to 
befall me, though I did not mention them to anyone, nor this 
benefit which I derived from them.' 

* *Aut pati, aut mori!* — *To suffer, op to die!* — her favourite aspi- 
ration.* 



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94 Life of S. Teresa, 



CHAPTER X. 
1561. 

APPEAL TO ROME — ^S. TEEE8A IS THREATENED WITH THE INQUI- 
SITION — SHE LAYS OPEN HER CONSCIENCE TO FATHER IBANEZ, 
AND TO GASPAR DE SALAZAR, THE NEW RECTOR OF THE JESUITS* 
HOUSE AT AVILA — THEY APPROVE HER DESIGN, AND OUR LORD 
COMMANDS HER TO PROCEED WITH IT IMMEDIATELY— LETTER 
TO HER BROTHER — AFRESH ASSAULTS OP THE DEVIL — ^MIRACU- 
LOUS RESTORATION TO LIFE OF GONZALEZ D'OVALLE. 

While S. Teresa remained thus perfectly passive in obedience 
to the command of her confessor, F. Peter Ibanez and Dona 
Gniomar d'Ulloa, who were nnder no such restraint, took 
vigorous measures for the prosecution of her design. They 
determined to have immediate recourse to the Holy See, 
whose decision would overrule all the objections of subordi- 
nate authorities. A letter was therefore written to Rome, 
asking permission to found the proposed convent, in the name 
of Dona Guiomar d*Ulloa, and of Dona Aldonza de Gnzman, 
her mother, whose interest in the work seems to have 
nearly equalled her own. This appeal to Rome had been 
commanded, and even the minutest circumstances relating to 
it, marked out to the Saint by our Lord Himself, who also 
made known to her His will that the new foundation should 
be placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Avila. This 
was a severe sacrifice to Teresa, who clung with loyal affec- 
tion to the superiors of her order, hostile as they had now 
shown themselves to her work ; and our Blessed Lady was 
pleased to comfort her by a vision, in which, on the Feast of 
the Assumption, she appeared to her in company with S. 
Joseph, and told her that it pleased her well to see her so 



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Visions of our Lady and 8. Clare. 95 

devoted to him. ' Our Lady told me,' adds the Saint, * that 
our Lord, and she herself and S. Joseph, would be devoutly 
served in that monastery ; that though the obedience under 
which I should be placed might not be agreeable to my incli- 
nations, they themselves would protect xis, and that her Son 
had already promised to remain with xis.' 

Three days before this vision was vouchsafed to S. Teresa, 
on the Feast of S. Clare, that Saint had appeared to her 
radiant with glory, bidding her go on fearlessly with the work 
she had in hand. ' She promised,' says S. Teresa, * to assist 
me, and well has she kept her promise, not only by aiding us 
by the alms of one of her hoxises, which is near our convent, 
but also, which is far better, by obtaining for us the grace to 
live in a poverty like her own. We no doubt owe it to the 
prayers of this Blessed Saint that our Lord is pleased, in Hir 
fotherly kindness, to provide us with all necessary things 
without our having to ask them of anyone.' 

While Teresa was cahnly waiting the issue of the applica- 
tion to Rome, ' the devil,' she says, ' began to make known 
(one person talkdng of these things to another) that I had 
had some revelation on the matter. Upon this some came to 
me in great fear, to teU me I had better look well to myself ; 
that the days were evil, and that perhaps men might lay 
things to my charge and complain even to the inquisitors. 
These fears made me laugh, for in this matter I never had any 
fears, because I knew weU that in all things relating to the 
Catholic faith, even to the least ceremony of the Church, or 
for the truth of any doctrine in the Holy Scripture, I was 
ready to die a thousand deaths. I therefore desired those 
persons not to fear for me, and that my soul would indeed be 
in a miserable condition if anything could be found in it to 
make me afraid of the inquisition ; that if I thought there 
were any grounds to fear, I myself would be the first to go 
before the inquisitors ; and that if any charge were brought 
against me, our Lord would deliver me from it, and that I 
should be the gainer thereby.' 

S. Teresa was not to be thus a gainer, for the threatened 
accusation was not brought against her. The apprehension of 
it, however, induced her to lay open the state of her soul to 



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96 Life of 8. Teresa. 

the learned Dominican, F. Ibanez, to her great spiritual con- 
solation, and his still greater spiritual beiiefit. 

'I spoke,' says she, *on this matter with the Dominican 
Father, who, as I have said, was so learned a man, that I could 
confidently rely upon whatever he said. And on this occasion 
I told him, with all the clearness I could, of all th^ visions I 
had received, and of the kind of prayer I used, and of the 
great favours our Lord had been pleased to show me, and I 
begged him to consider all these things well, and to let me 
know if they were in any way against Holy Scripture, and 
give me his opinion thereon. This he did, and so he made 
me very secure in my mind, and I also thought he himself 
derived some advantage from this matter ; for though he was 
before an excellent religious, yet from that time he de- 
voted himself more entirely to prayer, and entered into a 
monastery of his own Order, which was a place of great 
sohtude and silence, that he might give himself the better 
to recollection. There he remained about two years, and 
then he was removed by obedience, much to his sorrow. But 
his superiors stood in need of such a man. I was much 
grieved myself when he left me, because I wanted such a 
person, though I knew he would be the gainer. While I was 
in trouble about his departure, our Lord told me to be com- 
forted, for that he went under the direction of a good guide. 
And, indeed, he returned afterwards with his soul so much 
improved in spiritual matters, that he himself told me on his 
return, he would not for anything id the world have neglected 
making the journey. I also might say the same thing, because 
as he formerly consoled and encouraged me only by his learn- 
ing, he was now able to do the same, by the great experience 
he had acquired in supernatural things. Our Lord was also 
pleased to bring him back at the time when His Majesty saw 
we stood in need of him, to assist His work concerning this 
monastery, which it was His will should be estabHshed.' 

Such was the benefit derived by F. Ibaflez from his diligent 
examination of the spirit of Teresa. The Cathohc world owes 
him a debt of gratitude for the obedience which he was the 
first to lay upon her to write her life. It might have seemed 
that the temporary removal of this religious from Avila would 



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F. Qaspar de Salazar. 97 

be a seiioiLS lundrance to tlie foundatioii of the reform ; but 
God, wbo was to be its principal promoter, came to its aid 
when matters seemed most disconraging. 

Abont the end of the year 1560, or the beginning of the 
year following, the Father Rector of the Jesuits' college at 
Avila was removed, and Father Gaspar de Salazar appointed 
in his place. It now appeared that the somewhat narrow and 
timid mode of direction, which Father Alvarez had lately 
adopted towards his spiritual daughter, arose rather from the 
perfection of his obedience, than from any deficiency either of 
hght or of judgment. His superior disliked his conversing 
with women about visions and revelations, and laid such re- 
strictions upon his method of dealing with his penitent, as 
proved a martyrdom to them both. * Being one day,' says S. 
Teresa, * in great aflfliction because I thought my confessor 
did not believe me, our Lord told me not to be disquieted 
thereat, assuring me that aU my troubles would soon be at an 
end. At these words I rejoiced, thinking I should soon die, 
and I felt a thrill of joy whenever I remembered them. But 
I clearly perceived afterwards, that they related to the appoint- 
ment of the new Rector, of whom I have spoken, because from 
the time of his coming aU my great trouble ceased. He was 
in no way opposed to the Sub-Rector, who was my confessor ; 
but rather he told him to console me, and assure me that there 
was no reason for me to fear ; and bade him not to conduct 
my soul by such strait and narrow ways, and with such re- 
strictions, but to allow the Spirit of God to work freely in 
me. 

' Sometimes it seemed, by reason of these great impetuosities, 
that my soul had scarcely room to breathe. I went to visit 
this Rector, and my confessor commanded me to speak to him 
with all candour and clearness, though I felt the greatest 
difficulty in doing so. I no sooner entered the confessional, 
than I felt in my soul an indescribable consolation which I 
never remember to have experienced before or since. I cannot 
tell how it was, nor can I explain it by any kind of comparison, 
because it was a spiritual joy and a conviction in my soul, that 
the soul of this man would be able to understand me, and 
that his judgment and mine would agree, although (as I have 

H 



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98 Life of S. Teresa. 

said) I knew not how this would be. If I liad spoken with 
Mm before, or if others had told me something great about 
him, it wonld not have been very surprising if I rejoiced when 
I heard he was to hear me. But neither of xis had ever 
spoken to each other, nor had anyone ever given me any account 
of him. Since that time, however, I have clearly seen that 
my soul did not deceive me, for, by speaking with him, I have 
derived great advantage in every way, because his method of 
direction is very profitable to those persons whom our Lord 
is pleased to advance (in the road of perfection), for He makes 
them nm, and not walk step by step. His method is entirely 
to disengage them from all creatures, and to exercise them by 
mortifications ; and in this respect our Lord has given him 
very great illumination, as well as in many other things. As 
soon as I began to speak with him, I immediately understood 
his method, and saw I had met with a holy and pure soul, and 
that our Lord had given him a particular gifb for discerning 
spirits. He consoled me exceedingly. Soon after I had 
spoken to him, our Lord began to press me to resume the 
business of the monastery, and bade me declare both to my 
confessor and to this Bector the many reasons why they 
were not to oppose my design : some of these reasons made 
them quite afraid to delay the work, for the Father Kector 
never doubted but that it was inspired by the Spirit of God, 
since he beheld and considered with great care and attention 
aJl the effects produced on my soul by this revelation.' 

Our Lord vouchsafed by a special inspiration to reassure 
the timid conscience of F. Alvarez on this matter. * Bid thy 
confessor,' He said one day to Teresa, ' to meditate to-morrow 
on this verse : — Quam magmjicata stmt opera tua^ Domme ! 
nvnvis profvmdoB factcB stmt coffitationes turn,'' * Lord ! how 
magnificent are Thy works ; very deep are thy thoughts. As 
the father, in obedience to the Divine command, was medi- 
tating upon these words, he was enlightened to see how far 
the ways of God are above the reach of human reason, and to 
recognise His hand, which was now making use of a poor 
weak woman to work out His sovereign will. He lost no 

* Ps. xd. 



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A House is purchased. 99 

time in signifying to Teresa his full consent and approbation 
of the immediate commencement of her work. 

* Yet I clearly foresaw,' she says, ' what trouble the under- 
taking would give me, because I was quite alone, and had very 
little power to do anything. We determined that the matter 
should be carried on with great secrecy, and therefore I pre- 
vailed on a sister of mine, who lived elsewhere, to buy the 
house with money, which our Lord found means in a wonderftd 
way to give me for the purchase.' 

This sister was Jane d'Ahumada,. the youngest of the 
fchildren of Alonzo de Cepeda, and especially beloved by 
iS. Teresa, under whose care she had been educated in the 
(convent of the Incarnation. Dona Jane was married to a 
gentleman named John of Ovalle and Godinez, of one of the 
noblest houses in Salamanca, who had served with distinction 
in the wars of Charles V., and was no less zealous in the ser- 
vice of his Heavenly Master, as he proved by leaving his home 
at Alva, and removing to Avila, in order to aid his holy sister 
in the arduous and troublesome work of her first foundation. 
It was of essential importance that until the arrival of the ex- 
pected brief from Home, the destination of the house, lately 
purchased in the name of Dona Ghiiomar, should be kept secret. 
Don John d'OvaUe and his wife therefore, at the request of 
S. Teresa, took up their abode at Avila, and superintended the 
necessary alterations, as if to prepare it for their own residence. 
The money fiimished by Dona Ghiiomar proved, as ofben hap- 
pens in such cases, insufficient for the expenses required, so 
that, as we learn from the Saint's narrative, she was often in 
great perplexity how to proceed with the building. * It would 
be too long to mention,' says she, * how our Lord continued to 
provide for us. In procuring money to make the bargain 
and fit up the house, I endured many troubles ; and some of 
them all alone, though my companion did what she could. 
But this was little, so very little that it was next to nothing ; 
all she did was to lend her name and support to the under- 
taking, all the rest fell upon me, and that in so many ways, 
that I now wonder how I was able to endure it. Sometimes 
when I was thus in affliction, I said, " my Lord ! why dost 
Thou command things which appear impossible ? Though I 

h2 



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100 Zi/e of S. Teresa. 

am but a woman, yet, if I had liberty, something might per- 
haps be done; but being bound in all directions, without 
money, and without knowing where to get any, to pay either 
for the brief, or for anything else, what can I do, Lord ? " 
Being one day in great want, and not knowing what to do to 
pay the workmen, S. Joseph, my true Father and Patron, ap- 
peared to me, and told me not to fail to make the agreement, 
and that I should not want for money. Accordingly, I made 
the bargain without having any money, but afterwards our 
Lord provided some by such wonderftQ ways as amazed all 
who heard of it.' 

Amongst these * wonderful ways,' in which our Saint re- 
ceived help fix)m her beloved Father S. Joseph, may probably 
be numbered an unexpected afid very considerable supply of 
money, sent her by her brother Laurence, then far distant in 
Peru, who could by no natural means have been informed of 
her need. 

Her letter of thanks, dated December 30, 1561, is especially 
interesting, as showing the warmth and freshness of the sis- 
terly affection, which had been neither dimmed by an absence 
of twenty years, nor swallowed up by the absorbing interests 
of her supernatural life and divinely inspired work. S. Teresa 
was assuredly one of those Saints, of whom S. Paul has been 
said to be the type, who have been not wnclothed, but clothed 
pon ; all that was tender and beautifiil in their natural cha- 
racter being, not absorbed, but transfigured, by the rays of 
Divine glory which fall upon it from on high. There is no- 
thing more saintly, and nothing more frequently disregarded 
by good people who are not Saints, than considerateness in 
little things. That S. Teresa should have cared and prayed 
for her brother's soul, and rejoiced to hear of its welfare, is 
what we should all have expected ; but perhaps we should 
hardly have looked for the refined and graceful courtesy with 
which she acknowledges his bounty ; the tender sympathy with 
which she writes of the temporal necessities of the widowed 
sister, who had been like a mother to her ; the exulting fond- 
ness with which she notes the virtues and the happiness of the 
younger, who had been to her as a child, and who with her 
husband was now aiding in the foundation of her great work, 



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Letter to her Brother. 101 

or the loving mention of tlie sister-in-law and her little boy, 
and of the beantifdl image sent by her, ' which, had I received 
it at the time I wore gold, I shonld very likely have kept, for 
it is exceedingly pretty.' No one who reads the letter from 
which the following passages are extracted will share the 
wonder of the Saint, why people loved her so nmch. 



' May the Holy Ghost ever dwell in your heart, and reward 
yon for coming so quickly to our reliefl I trust in God, you 
wiU gain great merit by so charitable an act, for it is certain 
you bestowed your charities just when they were wanted ; and 
all those to whom you sent the money stood so much in need 
of it, that it has been a great consolation to me. As for a 
poor little nun like myself, who considers it an honour to wear 
a patched habit, I believe God inspired you to send me so 
great a sum ; for what I received from John Peter d'Bspinosa 
and Varron (such I think was the name of the other merchant) 
was quite enough for my necessities for a long time to come. 
I have spent the money in a matter, which, as I told you some 
time ago, I could not help undertaking for several reasons, but 
chiefly for this, because God had given me so many strong 
inspirations to begin the work. I dare not trust things of this 
nature to a letter ; I can only tell you that learned and holy 
people assure me I ought not to be timid, but that I must 
do all I possibly can for this undertaking, namely, to found a 
monastery, in which there are to be thirteen reUgious, and no 
more, who will be bound to live in strict enclosure, and can 
therefore never go out. They will never be able to see any- 
one, except with their veil down ; their chief duties bein^ to 
devote themselves to prayer and mortification, as I have told 
you before at greater length. I will give you more information 
when Antony Moran departs. Dona Guiomar, who is also 
writing to you, is of great service to me. She is the widow 
of Francis d'Avila, of the house of Sobralejo ; I know not if 
you remember this family. It is nine years since her husband 
died ; he was a very rich man ; she now enjoys his property 
besides the money she has inherited from her own family. 

* Although she was left a widow at the age of twenty-five, 



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102 Life of S. Teresa. 

she refiised to many again, and has given herself entirely to 
God. She is a very pious person. It is now more than four 
years since we have contracted so close a friendship, that I 
love her as if she were my own sister. But though she as- 
sisted me in the foundation, by giving me a good part of her 
income, she cannot now relieve me, as just at present she ha^ 
no money at her disposal. With regard to the purchase of 
the house, I must do this with ready money, by the Diviner 
assistance. I have already received (though the monastery 
has not yet been opened) the dowry of two young ladies. By 
help of this money, I have secretly purchased the house, though 
I have not money enough to remodel it for a convent. But 
I have great confidence in God's assistance, knowing that 
it is His will that the thing should be done. I have engaged 
the workmen, though it may have seemed very foohsh to do 
so. But His Majesty took care of us all, and moved you to 
come to our assistance. What surprises me the more is, that 
I was in want of just the forty crowns which you sent. I 
think that S. Joseph (who is to be the Patron of the house) 
has assisted me by your means. I am sure he will repay you. 
Though the monastery is very poor and small, the view from 
it is good, and I think we shall have room enough. We have 
sent to Rome for the Bulls ; for though the house wiU be of the 
Order of Mount Carmel, it will be under obedience to the 
Bishop. I trust in our Lord, that all things will prosper for 
His greater glory, if we should succeed in the undertaking (as 
I think we certainly shall), because those who are to enter the 
house are chosen souls, fitted to be very great examples of 
humihty, penance, and prayer. I beg of you to recommend 
the matter to God. I hope, by the help of His grace, that 
everything will be finished before Antony Moran goes away. 

' He came here, and I had great comfort in seeing him. He 
seems to be a trustworthy and judicious man. He gave 
me every particular about you. I think that the greatest 
favour our Lord could bestow on me was to give me to under- 
stand by what he told me, that you were convinced of the vanity 
of the world, and had made a resolution to retire from it alto- 
gether, and hve in repose and quiet. K you do so, I think you 
win be walking in the road to heaven. This is what I wanted 



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Her Sieters Mary and Jane. .103 

most to know, for till then I had been rather uneasy. Glory 
be to Him who doth aU things. 

* May He give you grace to advance more and more in His 
service ; for since the reward will be nnbonnded, we ought not 
to Hnger on the way, but daily advance (though it be but Uttle 
every day) with such fervour, that we may never cease from 
our warfare until we have gained the victory. 

* My sister Mary sent me this letter yesterday to be forwarded 
to you. She tells me she will write to you again as soon as she 
has received the rest of the money you sent her. The first sum 
came very opportunely. 

' She is a very good Christian, whom the death of her husband 
has left in great trouble.* 

* God has given John d'Ovalle a very perfect wife. The 
goodness of my sister Jane is something to praise God for ; she 
has the soul of an angel. I am the worst of the &anily, and so 
degenerate that you would hardly own me for your sister. I 
know not why people love me so much. I say this in all 
sincerity. 

' I am now staying at the house of Dona Guiomar, and find 
great comfort in being among persons who often speak to me 
of you. I shall remain here till the Provincial orders me else- 
where, and I hope he may allow me to remain here for some 
time, as I should thus be better able to manage the business 
which I have mentioned. 

* Now to speak of my dear sister Jane.f Though I name her 
the last, she does not hold the last place in my heart, for I 
assure you I pray to God for her with as much affection as for 
you, and I love her as much as yourself. All I can do for her 
is frequently to recommend her and her little boy to Grod. I 
have recommended him particularly to the holy friar, Peter of 
Alcantara, who promised to pray for him, and also to the 
Fathers of the Society of Jesus, and several others, whose 

* Dona Mary de Cepeda, daughter of Alonzo de Cepeda by his first 
marriage, had been lately left a widow by the sudden death of her husband, 
Don Martin de Guzman. 

t Jane Mary de Fuentes y Guzman, the wife of Laurence de Cepeda, a 
woman of great piety and .virtue. 



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;1(H Uft of a. Teresa. 

prayers I hope Qod will hear. May His Majesty be pleased 
to make him better than his parents ! I do not mean that yon 
are not good, bnt I want him to be still better. I pray you 
always tell me of the love and contentment in which yon both 
live together, for I receive great pleasure therefrom. 

* I thank my sister a thousand times for the beautifrd image 
she has given me. Had I received it at the time I wore gold, 
I should very likely have kept it, for it is exceedingly pretty. I 
beg of God to keep you both in health for many years. This 
wish comes at the right time, for to-morrow is the eve of the 
year 1562. 

' I wish to tell you that some very holy persons, who know 
all the particulars of my undertaking, account it to be a 
miracle that you sent the money just when I wanted it. I 
hope in God that, if I should want any more, He will put it 
into your heart to help me, whether you wish it or not. v 
* Your very loving sister, 

' DoSa Teresa d'Ahumada.' 

The sudden death of Don Martin Guzman had lefb him no 
time to receive the last sacraments. 'I was exceedingly 
troubled,' says the Saint, ' because he had no time to confess. 
I was told in prayer that my sister should die in the same 
way, and that therefore I should go to her and exhort her to 
prepare for death.' This warning having been several times 
repeated, S. Teresa obtained permission to visit her widowed 
sister, to whom she gradually unfolded the revelation which 
she had received concerning her. The warning was piously 
and submissively taken, and the advice which accompanied 
it careftQly followed. * I persuaded her,' says S. Teresa, * to 
confess ofben, and above all things to take care of her 
soul. As she was very pious, she did so, and four or five 
years afterwards, having taken very great care of her con- 
science, she died without seeing anyone, or being able to 
make her confession. Happily she had been to confession 
only the week before. I was exceedingly glad when I heard 
of her death ; she was a very short time in Purgatory ; it was 
not, I think, quite eight days afterwards, when one morning, 
after Communion, our Lord appeared to me, and I saw Him 



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She reatarea her Nephew to Life. 105 

conduct her to glory. Dnrmg all those years, up to the very- 
moment of lier death, I never forgot what had been said to 
me, nor did my companion, who, upon the unexpected news 
of her death, came to me quite amazed to see how punctually 
our Lord's words had been fuUBJled. May He be blessed for 
ever who takes such care of souls that they may not perish ! 
Amen/ 

During the time which S. Teresa was now spending out of 
the convent, for the prosecution of her work, she was called 
upon to endure one of those trials from the * contradiction oi 
good men,' of which S. Peter of Alcantara had forewarned 
her. She went one day with her sister Dona Jane to a church, 
when a sermon on mental prayer was preached for her especial 
edification, by a divine, whose zeal greatly outran his discretion 
and his charity. So vehement were his invectives against the 
Saint, whom he only just stopped short of pointing out by 
name, that stronger language could scarcely have been found 
to describe some notorious sinner in the city, or to unmask 
some fanatical impostor who had been practising upon the 
credulity of the faithful. Teresa Ustened to the tirade with 
undisturbed equanimity. Not so Dona Jane, whose in- 
dignation would scarcely permit her to remain quietly in the 
church, where such an indigniiy had been offered to one whom 
she so deeply loved and venerated. 

The heat of the opposition raised by the citizens of Avila 
(who had certainly, in thus warring upon women, somewhat 
forgotten their chivalrous character) had now, in a great 
measure, died away. The enemy of all good betook himself 
to a more direct method of attack, whereby, as is happily his 
wont, he overreached himself, by giving occasion for the 
exercise of the Saint's heroic constancy, and for the manifesta- 
tion of her extraordinary power with Gk)d. 

While the workmen were busy in raising the walls of the 
new building, Gk)nzalez d'OvaUe, a beautifiil boy of five years 
old, the only and darling child of Dona Jane, was playing 
about among them. Suddenly, and without any apparent 
cause, a large fragment of the wall was detached from the 
rest, and feU upon the child, who was drawn forth lifeless 
from the rmns. The bystanders, dreading to carry such evU 



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106 Life of S. Teresa. 

tidings to tlie motlier, ran to tlie lioiise of Dona Gniomaj* to 
make the fatal accident known to Teresa. The two friends 
hastened to the spot. Dona Guiomar, that woman foil of 
faith, who knew full well the power of the Saint with God, 
took the child up in her arms. * Sister,' said she, turning to 
Teresa, ' this boy is dead ; but God, whose power has no limit, 
can easily restore him to life. See what a reward your sister 
and your brother-in-law have reaped for the pains they have 
been at in this building ! Think how sad and comfortless 
they will return to their childless and desolate home, and ask 
Gt>d to give him back to them alive !' 

The Saint took the boy in her arms, just as the cries of the 
unhappy mother at the tidings of her child's death broke upon 
her ear. She held him upon her knee, and moved by an in- 
terior inspiration, she bade her sister and all those who stood 
around to be still ; then dropping her veil and bowing her 
head over the lifeless child, she breathed, in the silence of her 
heart, an intense and prevailing prayer that his life might be 
restored to him again. God heard the voiceless entreaty ; and 
infused once more into that cold form the breath of Hfe. 
Gt)nzalez, as if just wakened from a refreshing sleep, stretched 
out his little hands to his aunt, and stroked her face. Teresa 
gave him into his mother's arms, saying : * Take your boy, 
alive and well, for whom you have been grieving thus bitterly.' 
Great was the astonishment of the witnesses of the miracle, 
who were so many in number, that this fact is one of the most 
folly attested of aU that were brought forward in the process 
of canonisation. Teresa herself could not deny it, but, when 
questioned by one of her friends, only smiled and was silent. 
Gonzalez was wont from that day forward to follow her about 
and play round her, after embracing and caressing her, as if 
in token of gratitude. As he grew to riper years, he had 
other and more serious thoughts of his marvellous restoration 
to life, and would ofben gently reproach his holy aunt for de- 
priving him of the assured beatitude which would have been 
his lot, had she not recalled him to this life of trial, telling her 
that she was bound to shield him by her prayers from the 
danger of a worse death than that from which she had raised 
him. Teresa failed not to intercede continually for this 



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Overthrow of a WaU by the DevU. 107 

precious soul, which, departed from this world three years after 
her own death, bearing every token of a fitness to be with her 
in Paradise. 

About a month after the miraculous resurrection of Gronzalez, 
Jane d'Ahumada gave birth to a second son, whom she called 
Jo8eph,in honour to her sister's devotion to that glorious Saint. 
Teresa, as she held the newborn babe in her arms, said : * I 
pray Grod, my child, that if He sees that thou wilt one day 
leave His service. He will take thee even as thou art, in thine 
angelic innocence, to Himself.' 

Before the end of three weeks the child was attacked by a 
mortal sickness. Teresa seeing that our Lord was about to call 
him to Himself, took him in her arms and gazed intently upon 
him. The poor mother, whose eyes were fixed upon the 
Saint, saw her face suddenly become bright and beautiftd as 
that of an angel ; at that moment the infant expired, and 
Teresa, wrapping it round, would have left the room with it, 
in order to prepare the mother for the blow ; but Jane, deriving 
supernatural strength from the thought that her child was 
with God, said to her sister, * Do not go ; I see plainly that my 
Kttle Joseph is dead.' The Saint, still enraptured with the 
glories which she had seen, answered with a heavenly smile, 
' Oh ! how can we refrain from praising God when we see such 
a multitude of angels come to carry home the soul of one of 
these Httle children who are so like themselves ? ' 

So signal a miracle, as the restoration of Gronzalez to life, 
wrought at her intercession, failed not deeply to impress the 
minds of men with reverence for her, who had been so long 
an object of distrust and suspicion. The devil had made one 
great mistake, and he very soon fell into another. The work- 
men had completed a wall, which, though strong, well- 
cemented, and built in accordance with all the rules of art, 
was found the next morning level with the ground. Great 
was the amazement of all concerned, and very great the 
wrath of John of Ovalle, who had so anxiously watched the 
buQding, and who had narrowly escaped paying for it with 
the life of his only child. 

Attributing the accident to the carelessness of the work- 
men, he was for compelling them to rebuild the wall at their 



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108 Life of 8. Teresa. 

own expense ; but Teresa, who better knew at whose door lay 
the blame of the mischance, said to Dona Jane : ' Tell my 
brother not to deal hardly with the poor men. It is no fe»nlt 
of theirs that the wall has fallen down, but of the devils who 
have combined together to overthrow it. Let him be quiet, 
and give them money enough to rebuild it.' And she added, 
' We may see by the pains which the devil takes to destroy 
this work that he knows it will do him no good.' The shock 
which overthrew this massive wall shook for a moment 
the long-tried constancy of DoSa Ghiiomar. * Surely, dear 
sister,' she said to her undisturbed companion, ' the fall of so 
strong and well-built a wall must be a token that it is not the 
will of God that we should proceed with this work.' * K the 
wall has fallen down,' answered Teresa, quietly, ' it must be 
built up again ; ' and she immediately took measures for pro- 
curing money to rebuild it. Doiia Guiomar, at her desire, 
wrote to her mother, who was then at Toro, to ask for thirty 
ducats for this purpose. She wrote with very little hope of 
obtaining what she asked, but was assured by Teresa, two or 
three days after her letter had been sent, that the money had 
been already counted out by Dofla Aldonza, and deHvered to 
the messenger who had been sent with the letter from Avila. 
On his return it was ascertained that he had received the re- 
quired sum at the very time and place thus supematurally 
revealed to Teresa. 



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Visit to Toledo. 109 



CHAPTER XI. 
1561, 1562. 

S. TEEBSA IS SENT TO TOLEDO TO OOKBOLB DOSfA LOUISA DB 
LA CEBBA — WOJMDERVUL EFFE0T8 OP HBE FBESENOE THERE- 
HART DE SALAZAR—E. BAROIT — ^HOTHER MART OE JESUS — 
S. TERESA DETERMINES TO EOU|fD HER CONTENT IN STRICT 
POVERTY — OPPOSITION WHICH SHE MEETS WITH — LETTER OP 
8. PETER OP ALCANTARA — HER RETURN TO AVILA — ^ARRIVAL 
OP THE BRIEP PROM ROME — THE BISHOP OP AVILA ACCEPTS 
THE POUNDATION — PIR8T MASS AND CLOTHING OP POUR 
NOTICES AT S. JOSEPH'S. 

Notwithstanding all the prudent precautions which had been 
taken for its concealment, the real destination of John of 
Ovalle's supposed residence had become known to so many, 
that S. Teresa was in continual fear of a mandate from the 
Provincial to stop all ftirther proceedings before there should 
be time for the expected permission to arrive from Some. It 
may be imagined with what anxiety she watched the daily 
progress of the work, and how reluctantly she removed from 
the spot in obedience to an order of F. Angelo Salazar, the 
Provincial, which she received on Christmas Day, 1561, bid- 
ding her to repair at once to Toledo, to give consolation to one 
in deep affliction, who had earnestly entreated this favour of 
the Provincial of the Cannes. Louisa de la Cerda, sister of 
the Duke of Medina Coeli, had been just then left a widow, by 
the death of her husband, Don Arias Pardo, one of the greatest 
nobles of Castillo. The poor lady's health was sinking under 
the extremity of her sorrow. She had heard of the holy nun 
of Avila, and knew that she was at times permitted to leave 
her convent for the help and consolation of those who needed 
her aid. She therefore assailed the Provincial with such re- 



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110 Life of S. Teresa. 

peated and passionate entreaties as lie was unable to withstand, 
and the result was an obedience to the Saint to undertake the 
office of charity required. Great was the consternation of all 
concerned in the new foundation at the prospect of her ab- 
sence at so critical a time. They would fain have persuaded 
her to address a humble remonstrance to F. Salazar,and 
meanwhile to remain where she was till she could hear from, 
him again. The obedience was most painfrd to her, not only 
because it would remove her from the work which she was so 
anxiously superintending, but because it sent her into the midst 
of the world, and amid the splendours of a court, for the princely 
magnates of Spain, such as those of the house of Medina Coeli, 
kept Httle less than regal state. It sorely wounded her humiliiy 
too, that she should have been so spoken of abroad as to induce 
people to send for her to heal their sorrows. But Teresa had 
but one will to consult, and heeding neither the remonstrances 
of her friends, nor the reluctance of her own heart, she went 
straight to our Lord and asked counsel of Him. * It gave 
me much trouble,' she says, * to see that they were resolved to 
take me away, as if they saw some good in me, for knowing 
myself how wicked I was, I could not endure the journey ; and 
so recommending myself earnestly to Grod, I remained during 
the greater part of the time of Matins in a rapture. Our 
Lord then told me that I must not fail to undertake the 
journey, and that I was not to listen to the opinion of others, 
for few would think they could advise me to go without rash- 
ness ; but, that however painfril the journey might be to me, 
He would be greatly served thereby ; and that it would also 
be proper to absent myself from the monastery till the brief 
should arrive, because the devil had devised a great plot when 
the Provincial should come, but that I must be afraid of no- 
thing, for JBe would assist me in the business. These words 
strengthened and comforted me exceedingly, and I mentioned 
all to the Rector, who told me that I must go by all means. 

* But others said I ought not to go, and that it was only a 
stratagem of the devil, in order that some evil might happen 
to me, and that my best plan would be to write to the Pro- 
vincial. But I obeyed the Rector, and considering also what 
had happened in prayer, I began my journey without fear, but 



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Consolation afforded to Dona Louisa. Ill 

yet not -withont extreme conftisioii At tlie thought of their 
sending thus for me, and finding how much they were de- 
ceived, it made me importune our Lord the more not to for- 
sake me. But I was comforted to know that in the place 
whither I was going, there was a college belonging to the 
Society of Jesus, and by obedience to all their commands, I 
thought I should enjoy some security.' 

S. Teresa began her journey to Toledo on January 1, 1562, 
accompanied by another reHgious, and under the escort of her 
brother-in-law, John of Ovalle. Great was the joy occasioned 
by her arrival. 

' When I arrived there,' she tells us, ' our Lord was pleased 
to give the lady so much comfort, that an improvement in her 
health immediately began to be visible, for she became daily 
better and better. This was the more remarkable, because her 
grief had reduced her to a most deplorable state. But our 
Lord no doubt granted her ease on account of the many prayers 
which certain holy persons whom I knew had offered in her 
behalf. She was foil of the fear of Grod, and so good that her 
deep piety supplied for what was wanting in me. She con- 
ceived a great affection for me, and in return for her goodness 
I conceived the same for her ; but still all was a cross to me, 
for the attention which I received was a great torment to 
me, and caused me to fear exceedingly. 

' I was obliged to watch continually over my soul, for fear I 
should lose sight of it for a moment, and our Lord also was 
not unmindfol of me ; for while I was there He bestowed on 
me exceeding great favours ; and these gave me such liberty 
of soul, as made me despise all the esteem in which I was 
held there, and the more honour I received the more I de- 
spised it, so that I failed not to converse with those great 
ladies with as much liberty as if I had been their equal, though 
they were of such exalted birth, that I might, without any 
dishonour to myself, have been their servant. I derived great 
advantage from all this, and so I told this lady. I saw that 
she was a woman subject to weakness and passions like myself, 
and that she had little reason to value her dignity and power, 
which in proportion to its greatness, brings with it so much 
the more trouble and care. For so careful are these great 



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112 Life of 8. Teresa. 

people to Kve in a manner conformable to tlieir rank, tliat they 
cannot rest a moment in peace ; for they eat out of the proper 
time, and out of order, because everything must be done in 
accordance to their Station, and not with regard to their 
health and constitution ; and sometimes even they must eat 
such things as are more agreeable to their greatness than to 
their taste ; and thus I abhorred the idea of being a great 
lady ; may Qt)d deliver me from such a dangerous state. There 
are few, indeed, more humble and affable than she of whom I am 
speaking, though she is one of the principal ladies in the king- 
dom ; but still I feel great compassion for her, to see how she 
sometimes acts, not in conformity with her own inclinations, 
but to comply with the rules of her state. This high station 
is indeed a slavery ; and one of the greatest lies which the 
world tells, is to call such persons as these lords and ladies. 
To me they seem to be nothing more than slaves a thousand 
times over. Our Lord was pleased, while I remained in this 
lady's house, that her servants should greatly improve in 
serving His Majesty, though I was not free from some troubles, 
and some persons even envied me, on account of the great 
affection which she bore me. They might, perhaps, fancy that 
1 had some personal interest in what I did ; and so our Lord 
permitted them to give me some little trials, both in this and 
other ways, in order to prevent me from being intoxicated by 
the kindness and attention that were paid me on the other 
side. But from all these troubles he was pleased to deliver 
me, to the great benefit of my soul.' 

Marvellous indeed was the change wrought on the house- 
hold of Doila Louisa by the presence of the Saint ; frequent 
confession and conmiunion and liberal almsgiving became the 
practice of the house ; great was the reverence borne by its 
inmates to the holy guest who lived among them in such hu- 
mility and simplicity; little suspecting that, with a pardonable 
curiosity, they contrived to watch her in her retirement, and 
often saw her in ecstasy, radiant and glorious as an angel. The 
affection of Dofia Louisa for her who had been sent to heal her 
broken heart, and shield her from temptations to despair, was 
grateful and enduring, and she proved her gratitude to both 
her Divine and human consolers, by the foundation, six years 



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Mary of Salazar. 113 

afterwards, of a Carmelite convent on her own estates at 
Mala^on. But this dreaded visit to Toledo won a more saintly 
soul for Heaven, and gave to Teresa a child who was one day to 
be (in her own words) the dearest friend of her heart, and one 
of the chief pillars of her reform ; who, of all her daughters, 
was to bear the heaviest cross, and drink deepest of the 
chalice of suffering and humiliation long after her own entrance 
into bliss. 

Amongst all the letters of S. Teresa to her spiritual daughters, 
there are none more ftdl of interest and edification, none in 
which her whole heart and soul are poured forth with a freedom 
betokening such fall sympathy with her correspondent, as those 
to Mary of S. Joseph, first prioress of the convent at Seville, 
whose long life of heroic conflict in the establishment of the 
reform was crowned by a saintly death, followed by a succes- 
sion of miracles. All this array of graces and glories was 
little dreamt of, when S. Teresa entered the palace of Dona 
Louisa, by the young kinswoman who eagerly welcomed her 
as the bringer of peace and consolation to the broken-hearted 
widow. Mary of Salazar was then about two-and-twenty, 
richly endowed, both in mind and person, with all that this 
world could offer at her command. But she had learned a 
lesson from the stroke which had desolated her princely house. 
It had taught her not to set her heart upon earth, and Teresa 
came to teach her to fix it upon Heaven. By her advice, Mary 
de Salazar made a general confession to one of the fathers of 
the Society of Jesus, under whose direction she devoted her- 
self to the exercises of the interior life, in preparation for the 
day when she should be free to consecrate herself to God in 
religion. Her patience and constancy were, however, to be 
tested by a probation of six years, at the end of which time 
she received the habit of Mont Carmel from the hand of 
S. Teresa in the new convent founded by DoSa Louisa at 
Malagon. 

During her six months' sojourn at Toledo, Teresa renewed 
her long-suspended intercourse with the holy Dominican, 
Father Baron, her father's confessor, under whose direc- 
tion, nearly twenty years before, she had resumed the practice 
of mental prayer, and entered once more upon the narrow 

I 



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114 Life of S. Teresa. 

way of perfection. As she was one day hearing mass in the 
Dominican Church, which was close to DoSa Louisa's honse, she 
saw and recognised this reHgions, and felt inmiediately inspired 
with a great desire to know the state of his soul before God, 
and the degree of perfection to which, in the long years which 
had elapsed since their last meeting, it had attained. She re- 
sisted this interior impulse for some time as a movement of 
idle curiosity ; but finding it too strong to be overcome, and 
beHeving it to be a Divine inspiration, she made herself known 
to F. Baron, and, at his urgent desire, unfolded to him in the 
confessional the marvellous history of her own spiritual life 
since they had parted at what seemed to have been its turning 
point. The priest begged her to recommend him to God ; but 
there was Uttle need of such a request, for it was Teresa's 
wont, whenever she saw a soul which seemed capable of doing 
great things for God, to beseech Him fervently that He would be 
pleased to enable it to fulfil its vocation. Perceiving now in 
the soul of this religious far greater powers and capabilities 
for the service of God than she had observed him to possess in 
times past, she set herself earnestly to implore her Lord, that, 
good as he now was. He would be pleased to make him still 
better. Having persevered for several hours together in this 
petition, she fell into a rapture, in which she thus spoke in the 
freedom of her love : * O Lord, do not refuse me this favour ; 
consider that this good man is worthy to be numbered among 
our friends.' * Oh ! how great,' she continues in the fervour 
of her affection, ' is the goodness and kindness of our God. 
He does not consider so much our words as the desires and 
affections with which they are spoken, or how could He have 
allowed such a miserable creature as I am to speak to Him 
with so much boldness ? May He be blessed for ever and 
ever ! ' This bold and fervent entreaty for the soul of another 
was followed by a thrill of exceeding terror regarding her own. 
* There came upon me that night a great affliction — a doubt 
whether or not I was in favour with God — and I desired not 
so much to know this, as to die, rather than continue in such 
a life, wherein I could not be sure whether I was dead or no, 
for I could not endure a more cruel death than to think I had 
offended God. . Being thus transported with love, and shedding 



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Farther Light on the subject of Holy Poverty. 115 

a torrent of tears, I entreated His Majesty not to permit it ; 
and then I came to nnderstand that I was in a state of grace, 
because such a love for God and such favours from His Majesty 
were not compatible with a state of mortal sin.* 

Teresa felt also assured that her prayer for F. Baron was 
granted. * Our Lord,' she says, * told me to say certain words 
to him. But this command troubled me much, because I. 
knew not how to utter them ; for to cany a message to a third 
person in this way always greatly afficts me, especially when 
I know not how it will be received, or whether I shall not be 
laughed at for my pains. At last, on account of the great con- 
fusion I was in, I wrote down the words and delivered them 
to him.' So wonderful was the change effected in the soul of 
this holy man by the Divine communications Vouchsafed to 
him through the medium of our Saint, that she was filled with 
gratitude and amazement. She thus writes, about a year after 
the occurrence of these events: 'Whenever this holy man 
speaks to me, it lifts me almost out of myself; for had I not 
seen it with my own eyes, I should have doubted whether, in 
80 short a time, so many favours could have been bestowed 
upon a creature ; and these keep him so occupied with Grod, 
that already he seems not to live for anything in this life. May 
His Majesty take him by the hand, for if he should continue 
to advance in this way (as I trust in our Lord he will), his 
soxd being so deeply rooted in the knowledge of himself, he 
will become one of the most eminent of Gk)d's servants, and 
will do great good to many souls, on account of the deep ex- 
perience he has acquired, in a short time, of spiritual things.' 

It was during her residence in the splendid palace of the 
Dukes of Medina- CceH, that S. Teresa first folly realised the 
principle which was to form so prominent a feature of her 
reform, and which led to the foundation of its houses in abso- 
lute poverty. Her original idea had been to endow the 
proposed Convent of S. Joseph with such a moderate provision 
as should relieve its inmates from anxiety regarding the neces- 
saries of life, (gradually, however, the longing arose in her 
soul for a poverty which should more perfectly conform her to 
the image of our Lord. Li a manifestation of the interior 
dispositions of her soul, addressed to one of her confessors, 

i2 



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116 Life of 8. Teresa, 

about a year later than that sent to S. Peter of Alcantara, she 
depicts just such a mode of life as she was eventually enabled 
to realize. 

' With regard to poverty, Grod has been very gracious to me. 
He has not only made me willing to depend upon alms for the 
necessaries of life, but He has given me an ardent desire to 
live in some house entirely dependent on charity. It seems 
to me that I cannot so perfectly follow the counsels of Jesus 
Christ, or so fully observe my vow of poverty, in a house where 
I am assured that I shall want neither food nor clothing, as in 
one in which, being without endowment, I may come to be in 
want of something. The blessings of perfect poverty are to 
my mind so great, that I am most anxious not to lose them. 
My faith in the infalhble fulfilment of the T^ords of Jesus 
Christ is so vivid, that I cannot believe that He will ever 
forsake those who serve Him faithfully.' 

Teresa, when she wrote this, was not aware that the ideal 
of perfect poverty, after which she yearned, was contained in 
the primitive ruleof Mount Carmel, which she was destined to re- 
store. She was enlightened upon this point during her stay at 
Toledo by a great servant of God, Mother Mary of Jesus, who 
had received a command from our Lord, in the same year and 
month as herself, to erect a reformed house of the Order. She 
was now returning from Rome, whither she had travelled 
barefoot to obtain the brief for her foundation, and she re- 
mained for a fortnight at Toledo to confer with S. Teresa. 

* She showed me,' says the Saint, *the despatches which she 
brought from Eome ; and during the fortnight that we lived 
together, we arranged the plans according to which we should 
establish our monasteries. Till I had consulted with her, I 
never knew that our rule, before it was mitigated, forbade our 
having property. I was unwilling to found the house without 
revenue, because I wished to avoid harassing ourselves with 
the care of providing what was necessary for our support, not 
reflecting on the many cares which property brings along with 
it. But as our Lord had taught this blessed woman, she 
knew well, though unable to read, that of which I, with all my 
study of our constitutions, was yet ignorant. When she told 
me this I was glad, though I was afraid the superiors would 



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God never wanting to His Servants. 117 

not give their consent, but that they would say, I attempted 
extravagant things, and that I should not undertake what 
might make others suffer on my account. Had it concerned 
myself only, I should not have hesitated a moment to found 
the house in poverty ; nay, I felt great pleasure in thinking 
that I was to observe the counsels of Christ our Lord, because 
His Majesty had already given me strong desires Ixactly to 
follow His counsels. 

' Thus, for my own part, I made no doubt but that it was for 
the best, for long before I had wished, had it been suitable to 
my state, to go begging for the love of Grod, and to possess 
nothing, neither house nor anything else. But I was afraid 
that if our Lord did not give the same desires to others, 
they might, perhaps, be discontented ; and also I was afraid, 
lest it might be a cause of distractions, for I saw some poor 
monasteries not very recollected, not considering that their 
poverty came from want of recollection, and not their want 
of recollection from their poverty. Solicitude makes not 
religious the richer, and God is never wanting to those who 
truly serve Him. Li a word, my faith was weak, but not so 
that of this servant of God. Though I asked the opinion of 
many on this matter^ yet hardly anyone was for this project, 
neither confessors, nor the learned theologians whom I con- 
sulted. 

* They gave so many reasons against it, that I knew not what 
to do ; for, when I understood that the rule enjoined it, and 
that it tended to promote greater perfection, I could not be 
persuaded to admit revenues. And though I sometimes found 
myself convinced by their reasons, yet, when I afterwards 
returned to my prayers, and beheld Christ so very poor and 
naked, I could not have the patience to be rich ; and so I 
begged of our Lord, with tears, that He would so order things 
that I might find myself poor as He was. I discovered so 
many inconveniences in having revenues, and I saw that so 
many troubles and distractions would arise from them, that I 
did nothing but dispute with the learned.* 

Li this perplexity the Saint applied once more to F. Ibailez, 
who at first strongly opposed her design. 

*He sent me,' she says, ' in writing, two sheets of objections 



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118 Life of S. Teresa. 

and theological reasons against the project, assuring me that 
he had deeply studied the matter. I answered that I would 
not make use of theology to obtain a dispensation from follow- 
ing my vocation, and observing my vow of poverty, and the 
counsels of our Saviour, in all perfection ; nor did I wish that 
he would assist me in this point with his learning. If I met 
with any8ne who took my part, or was of the same mind as 
myself, I rejoiced greatly. The lady with whom I was Hving 
assisted me in this matter very much. Some told me at first 
they liked the project very well ; but, considering the matter 
afterwards more carefully, they found so many difficulties in 
it, that they laboured all they could to dissuade me from it. 
My answer was, that since they had changed their mind so 
suddenly, I was resolved to follow the opinion which they gave 
me first.' 

Our Lord was pleased to send a faithful counsellor to Teresa 
in this great perplexity in the person of S. Peter of Alcantara, 
perhaps, next to his great father S. Francis, the most perfect 
follower of the poverty of Jesus whom the world has ever seen. 
Dona Louisa had an earnest desire to see the aged Saint, and, 
at the request of S. Teresa, he consented to visit her at this 
time ; our Lord, no doubt, so disposing events for the assist- 
ance of His servant in her present difficulty, as well as for the 
consolation of her friend. 

'About this time it happened,' writes the Saint, Hhat as this 
lady had never seen the holy man, Peter of Alcantara, our Lord 
was pleased, through my entreaties, to bring him to her house. 
And, as he was a true lover of poverty, having observed it for 
many years, he knew well what riches were to be found therein, 
and accordingly he was of great assistance to me, and he com- 
manded me, on no account, to desist from my design. Thus, with 
his opinion and approbation, being one whose judgment on ac- 
count of his long experience was worth far more than that of 
others, I resolved to proceed no further in asking any other 
opinion.' 

To the approbation of this great servant of God, our Lord 
was pleased to add the assurance of His own. 

' Being one day in prayer,' says S. Teresa, ' earnestly recom- 
mending this matter to God, our Lord said to me, " By no 



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Letter from S. Peter of Alcantara. 119 

means neglect to fonnd the house in poverty, for this is the 
will of My Father and Mine; I will assist thee." These 
words were said in a rapture, and such was their effect, that I 
could not possibly doubt of thei» coming from Grod. Another 
time He told me that with revenues would come confusion, 
with several other things in praise of poverty, assuring me, 
that whoever should serve Hvm, should not want necessaries; and 
of this want (as I said), for my part, I was never afraid. Our 
Lord also changed the mind of the Dominican, who had 
formerly written to me against founding the house without 
revenue. I was now exceedingly delighted at having heard this 
from our Lord, and having had the opinions of other persons ; 
and hence by resolving to hve upon alms, I thought I already 
enjoyed all the wealth in the world.' 

For some reason which does not appear, probably for the 
satisfaction of some of her timorous friends, S. Teresa thought 
it advisable to depart in one instance from her determination 
to ask no further advice upon the question of endowments after 
having received the decided opinion of S. Peter of Alcantara. 
She wrote to a pious priest at Avila named Gk>nzalez d'Aranda, 
asking him to obtain for her the opinions of various learned 
men upon the subject. Gonzalez showed the letter to S. Peter of 
Alcantara, who was then at Avila, and who wrote as follows to 
Teresa : — 

* May the Holy Spirit fill your heart ! 

* Senor Gonzalez d'Aranda has shown me a letter from you, 
and I am much surprised that you should ask the opinion of 
learned men concerning matters which do not belong to their 
province. K some case of conscience or question of casuistry 
were at issue, you would do well to consult jurists or theolo- 
gians, but where the question relates to the life of perfection, 
those only should be consulted who practise it, and for this 
reason, that men generally measure their conscience and their 
good feelings by the standard of their good works. Neither 
is it lawful to ask the opinion of others as to whether the 
EvangeHcal Counsels are to be followed or not, for this were 
a kind of infidelity. The counsel of God cannot fail to be good, 
nor is it difficult to follow except to the unfaithful, and to those 



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120 Life of S. Teresa. 

who trust but little to Godt, and are guided only by the dictates 
of human prudence, forasmuch as He who gave the counsel can 
and will give the power to observe it. K you are willing to fol- 
low the counsel of highest perfection given by Jesus Christ, 
follow it with good courage, for it is not given to men more 
than to women, and you shall have good success, as all those 
have had who have followed it faithfully. But if you choose 
to depend upon the counsel of learned men, who are devoid of 
the spirit of perfection, you may then obtain abundant revenues, 
and you will see what good the learned men and the revenues 
will do you, and whether you would not have done better to 
give them all up and keep to the counsel of Christ. Moreover, 
if we daily see imperfections in monasteries of poor nuns, it is 
because they are poor against their will, not in order to follow 
the counsel of Christ, but because they cannot help it. I do 
not simply praise poverty, but only that poverty which is pa- 
tiently endured for the love of Christ our Lord, and still more 
that which, for this same love, is not only embraced, but de- 
sired and sought after ; for were I to feel or believe otherwise 
I should not hold myself to be secure in the faith. In this as 
in all other things, I believe Christ our Lord, and hold most 
firmly that His counsels, being the counsels of God, are the 
best ; and I believe that though they do not oblige under sin, 
they do render the man more perfect who follows them than 
the man who does not oblige himself to do so. I hold that if 
they do not oblige, they at least make him more perfect, more 
holy, and more pleasing to God. I account those to be blessed 
according to the words of our Lord, who are poor in spirit, 
that is, who practise voluntary poverty, and I have proved it 
well myself, although I trust more to the words of Gt)d than 
to my own experience. I hold that all those who, by the grace 
of God, live in willing poverty, lead a blessed and happy life, 
such a life as is led by those who love, hope, and trust in Gt)d. 
May His Divine Majesty enlighten you to understand this truth, 
and to carry it into execution ! Do not attend to those who tell 
you the contrary, for they thus speak either from want of light, 
or from want of faith, or because they have never tasted how 
sweet the Lord is to those who love and fear Hun, and who 
renounce for His love all unnecessary things ; they thus speak 



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Her Recall to Avila. 121 

because they love not to bear the cross of Christ, and believe 
not in the glory which flows .from it. May the Lord inftise 
such light into yonr heart, that you may neither doubt nor 
waver in the knowledge of this most certain truth ! Ask advice 
only of those who follow the counsels of Christ, because although 
others shall be saved, if they observe those things which are of 
obligation, men have seldom light to judge of any works higher 
than those which they practise themselves ; and even supposing 
their counsel to be good, that of Christ our Lord is infinitely 
better ; for He knows well the meaning of His own counsels, 
He will help us to fulfil them, and wiU eternally reward those 
who trust not in earthly things, but in Him alone. 
'Your humble chaplain, 

'B. Peter op Alcantara. 
'Avila, 14th of April, 1662.' 

During her stay at Toledo, S. Teresa completed the first 
narrative of her life, which she had begun at the desire of F. 
Ibaiiez. . 

The time was now approaching for her return to Avila. 
After an absence of some months, she received a letter from 
the F. Provincial, requiring her to return thither, in order 
to be present at the election of the prioress, which was soon 
to take place, leaving her free in the meantime either to 
return home at once, or to remain a little longer with her 
friend. The mention •of the election threw the Saint into 
great uneasiness. She immediately guessed the motive of her 
superior in fixing that period for her return. ' I was informed,' 
she says, 'that many intended to give me this office (of 
prioress), the mere thought of which so afflicted me, 'that I 
resolved to endure any torment for God's sake with joy, but 
that no one should prevail on me to accept this dignity ; for, 
in addition to the trouble, which was great, the nuns being 
very numerous, together with other motives, I never loved to 
be in office, but always refttsed it, thinking it would be very 
dangerous to my conscience, so that I thanked God I was not 
there. I wrote to my friends, begging them not to vote for 
me. Being very much pleased to be out of the way of this 
disturbance, our Lord said to me, " Do not neglect, on any 



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122 Life of 8. Teresa. 

account, to go ; and since thon desirest a cross, there is a good 
heavy one prepared for thee; do not refdse it, for I will 
support thee; go immediately." These words afflicted, me 
extremely, and I did nothing bnt weep, becanse I thought the 
cross was the office of prioress ; and this I conld not persuade 
myself would be good for my soul in any way, so I knew not 
how to resign myself to it. I mentioned the matter to my 
confessor, who commanded me to depart immediately, for that 
this was clearly the way of greater perfection ; but, because 
the heat of the weather was then excessive, he allowed me to 
remain a few days longer, lest the journey might injure me, 
for it was sufficient if I arrived in time for the election. But 
our Lord having ordered things otherwise, I wished to obey 
His command instantly, for I was so extremely disturbed in 
my mind, that I could not pray, and I thought I was wanting 
in obedience to our Lord's commands ; and that being treated 
there kindly, and made much of, I was unwilling to go away, 
and expose myself to suffering. It seemed to me that all I 
gave to Grod was but words ; and I asked myself, since I could 
please our Lord better by returning immediately, why did I 
delay ? Were I to die on the way, let me die. To this was 
added a heaviness of soul, and such weariness of prayer, that 
life was a burden to me. I therefore begged of the lady to 
allow me to depart, for my confessor seeing me in this state, 
had already told me to go, Grod having moved him as He had 
moved me. She felt my intended departure so much, that 
this proved another affliction to me, for she said it had cost 
her much trouble and many importunate requests to prevail 
on the Provincial to allow me to come here. I considered it 
very extraordinary that she consented, on account of the great 
grief she felt ; but as she feared Grod, and as I told her my 
departure would tend greatly to the Divine honour, besides 
giving her many other reasons, and holding out some hopes 
that she would see me again, she consented with much diffi- 
culty. As for myself^ I now felt no sorrow at all about my 
departure, because when I understand that anything tends to 
promote greater perfection, and to give greater glory to Grod, 
I am contented ; and the joy I found in pleasing HiTn^ took 
away the grief I felt in leaving this lady (who I perceived 



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Arrival of the Brief from RoTne. 123 

regretted my departure exceedingly), and in leaving others 
also, and especially my confessor, from whose direction I 
derived great benefit. But the greater were the consolations 
which I gave up for God, the greater was my joy in losing 
them. I could not understand these two contrary sentiments 
of joy and sorrow, and of gladness springing out of grief. 
All my trouble had fled ; I was serene and joyful, and able, 
without effort, to spend many hours together in prayer, and 
yet I saw that I was about to cast myself into a fire, our Lord 
having already signified this to me, by telling me that I was 
to endure a heavy cross (though I never thought it would 
prove so heavy, as afterwards I found it) ; still, in spite of all 
these things, I departed cheerfully, and was even impatient to 
begin the battle immediately in which it was our Lord's 
pleasure that I should engage, and for which His Majesty 
gave such strength to my weakness.' 

Teresa left Toledo with a light and resolute heart, ready 
most cheerftdly to suffer whatever our Lord should be pleased 
to send her ; and not many days after her arrival at Avila, it 
was made clear to her why He had so urgently pressed her 
return at this time. She reached home about the middle of 
July. On the very evening of her return, the brief for the 
foundation arrived from Rome. It was addressed to the two 
noble ladies, Aldonza de Guzman and Guiomar d'Ulloa, her 
daughter, in whose names it had been asked, and they being 
both absent from Avila at the time, it happened by the dis- 
position of Divine Providence, that the person most deeply 
interested in the matter should be there to receive it ; so that 
both the Saint and all who knew the circumstances of the 
case were astonished to see how necessary her return at that 
particular moment was to the establishment of her work. 

Another favourable circumstance was the presence of S. 
Peter of Alcantara, who was then staying at the house of Don 
F. Salcedo, and by whose persuasions the Bishop of Avila was 
induced to accept the foundation. 

Before applying to that prelate, Teresa made one more 
attempt to obtain the sanction of the Superiors of her Order. 
Concealing the fact of her having obtained a brief from Rome, 
she once more besought F. Angelo de Salazar to receive the 



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124 Life of 8. Teresa. 

proposed fonndatioii. The Provincial might probably (now 
that the storm was laid, in fear of which he had withdrawn his 
previous consent) have yielded to her repeated solicitation, 
but a new feature had been introduced into the plan, which 
drew from him a peremptory refasal ; the idea of founding a 
house in absolute poverty he would not tolerate for a moment. 
The holy foundress, and all concerned in the work, gave thanks 
to Him who had commanded them to have recourse to the 
Holy See, without whose concurrence, it was plain, they would 
have been powerless to effect anything. 

Though the Provincial refased his assistance or sanction to 
the work, he aided it unconsciously and indirectly by the per- 
mission which he gave to S. Teresa to remain for a while out 
of her convent, in order to attend her brother-in-law, John of 
Ovalle, in a severe illness with which he was attacked at this 
time. And here again we see the hand of Grod, sweetly and 
mightily ordering all things for the good of His Church and 
the benefit of His elect. John of Ovalle having occasion to 
return to his house at Avila, whither his wife had gone about 
the middle of June, went first to Toledo to take leave of 
S. Teresa. As he passed through Avila on his return, he was 
struck down by a severe attack of fever, and laid up in the 
house which he had so long been preparing for her use. He 
lay thus for the space of a fortnight, and on the return of the 
Saint to Avila, he asked and obtained the permission of the 
Provincial that she should tend him in the absence of his wife. 
The iUness lasted just so long (and no longer) as the neces- 
sities of the new foundation required. Ovalle himself saw the 
hand of God in his indisposition, and said to his sister when 
matters began to look brighter, * Seiiora, there will be no need 
for me to be ill much longer.' And accordingly, as soon as 
the matter was concluded, the invaHd was restored to health. 

In the meantime, S. Teresa was secretly arranging the busi- 
ness of the foundation with S. Peter of Alcantara, who wrote, 
and at last went himself to the Bishop of AvQa, to induce him 
to receive the proposed convent under his jurisdiction. 

Alvarez de Mendoza, Bishop of Avila, was a good man, and 
in after years a most devoted friend of S. Teresa ; he also 
proved himself a faithful protector of her reform. She thus 



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Don Alvarez de Mendoza. 125 

writes of him after the fonndation of S. Joseph's at Avila : — 
' What has happened since has shown me of what importance . 
it has been to us to place onrselves nnder obedience to 
the Bishop, Don Alvarez de Mendoza. But I did not know 
him then, nor what a superior we should find him to be. It 
has pleased our Lord, not only that he should be full of good- 
ness towards us, but that he should possess such qualities as 
have enabled him to cany our little vessel through the tem- 
pests of which I have had to speak, and to bring it to its pre- 
sent condition.' The white marble tomb which faces the high 
altar in the Convent Chapel of S. Joseph, covers the mortal 
remains of Alvarez de Mendoza, who chose to be buried there 
rather than in his own cathedral, in the hope, which was not 
destined to be realized, of thus resting near the Saint. 

At the time, however, of which we now speak, the Bishop 
of Avila viewed with no greater favour or confidence than the 
Provincial of the Cannes the proposal of so great a novelty 
as the foundation of a convent to be totally dependent upon 
sdms. He yielded at last to the arguments of S. Peter of Alcan- 
tara, supported as they were by the evidence of his experience 
and the weight of his sanctity ; and, after an interview with 
S. Teresa herself, was so completely reassured by her consum- 
mate prudence and manifest illumination, that he not only 
accepted the foundation, but became the beneficent protector 
as well as the ecclesiastical superior of the infant community. 

Peter of Alcantara, having thus removed the last obstacle 
to the beginning of so glorious a work, departed from Avila, 
and soon afterwards passed to his eternal reward, to aid it 
still more efiectually by his prayers. * It seems,* says S. Teresa, 
* that our Lord preserved him till he had finished this business, 
for he had been iU for a long time (I think for more than two 
years), and soon after it was concluded, our Lord took him to 
Himself.' 

There was only one thing now needed, and this was to give 
the house, which had been so long in course of preparation, 
the exterior form and order of a convent. It was very small ; 
so small that the Saint had at one time a great desire to pur- 
chase another adjacent to it to serve as a chapel, but our Lord 
reproved her for this over solicitude. One day, after Commu- 



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126 Life of S. Teresa. 

nion, He thus spoke to her : ' I have ah-eady told jou to enter 
as best you can ; ' adding, as if in astonishment : * Oh ! the 
covetousness of mankind ! why are you afraid of wanting a 
little earth ? How often did I sleep in the open air, not 
knowing where to lay my head ! * 

In this Httle house, fit cradle of the new reform, a small but 
very neat chapel was prepared, where the religious might hear 
Mass behind a strong double wooden grate. A narrow corridor 
led from the nuns' apartments to the chapel, and over the 
doors at either end was placed an image of our Blessed Lady 
and of S. Joseph, in accordance with the promise of our Lord 
that they should be special guardians of this new Paradise 
of His delights. A Httle bell, of no more than three pounds 
weight, was hung in a hollow of the wall to summon the com- 
munity to masis and ofl&ce. This poor Httle bell was removed 
in 1634 to the Convent of the CarmeHte Friars at Pastrana, by 
command of the Superior General of the discalced CarmeHtes 
in Spain, in order that the general Chapters, which were 
usually held at that monastery, might be called together by 
the bell of their sainted foundress, and so be continually re- 
minded of the sublime poverty which she had left them for 
an inheritance. The simpHcity and poverty of the dwelling of 
the nuns, their cells, fiimiture, habits and food, exceeded, if pos- 
sible, that of their chapel. It would need a heart full of love as 
Teresa's in any adequate degree to enter into her joy when 
she first knelt to adore our Lord, present on the poor altar 
which He had chosen for His dwelling-place, and presented to 
Him the four poor orphan girls who were to be the first fruits 
of the renewed glories of Carmel. No pen but her own must 
attempt to trace the emotions of that long-looked-for day. 

' Everything being now prepared, our Lord was pleased that, 
on the feast of Saint Bartholomew, some ladies should take 
the habit, and the most Blessed Sacrament was then placed in 
our Church ; and thus with ftdl Hcence and authority, this 
monastery of our most glorious Father S. Joseph was esta- 
bHshed in the year 1562. I was present to give the habit to 
the novices, together with two other nuns from the monastery 
of the Incarnation. I had done nothing without the advice of 
learned men, lest in any point I should ofiend against obedience. 



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Hopes fulfilled. 127 

For these persons, seeing that, on many grounds, the monas- 
tery tended to the reputation and advantage of the whole 
Order, told me that I might proceed in the business, even 
without the knowledge of my superiors. Had they seen the 
slightest imperfection in thus acting, I would have given 
up not this only, but a thousand monasteries ; this is very 
certain. For though I was desirous to sepiarate myself entirely 
from the world, and to follow my profession and vocation with 
the greatest perfection, and in the strictest enclosure, yet I 
submitted my desire entirely to the good pleasure of God ; and 
if I had seen that it would tend more to His honour to 
abandon all this, I would have done it with tranquillity and 
cheerfalness, as I had already done once before. I seemed now 
to enjoy a foretaste of heavenly glory ; to see the most Holy 
Sacrament on the Altar, and shelter given to four poor 
orphans (for they were admitted without dowry), who were 
great servants of God; for it had been intended from the 
beginning that such persons should be first received, as 
their example might prove a firm foundation to the new 
building, and enable us to attain our object of leading a life 
of great perfection and prayer. I saw at last the accomplish- 
ment of a work which would, I was confident, contribute to 
the glory of our Lord and to the honour of the habit of His 
glorious Mother, for this was my sole desire. Besides, it gave 
me great consolation to behold the fulfilment of that which our 
Lord had so strictly commanded me to efiect, and to see the 
first church opened in this place, under the invocation of my 
glorious Father S. Joseph. Not that I seemed to have done 
anything in this matter myself, for I never had nor have I now 
any such thought, because I ever knew it was our' Lord who 
did everything ; and what little I may have done towards it 
was attended with so many imperfections, that I find I rather 
deserve to be blamed than to be praised. But I was even 
overwhelmed with joy to see that His Majesty had made use 
of me, though so very wicked, to be the instrument of so 
noble a work ; and I was, as it were, carried out of myself and 
absorbed in profound prayer.' 

There was one circumstance connected with the ceremonial 
of this happy day which must have given especial consolation 



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128 Life of S. Teresa. 

to the heart of S. Teresa, so long wearied by the contracUo' 
tion of good men. The necessary faculties for all the solemni- 
ties were granted by the Bishop (probably designedly) to 
Master Gaspar Daza. It was his hand, rather than that of 
Bathasar Alvarez, or Gaspar Salazar, or Peter IbaRez, or 
S. Peter of Alcantara, which was to place the Lord of Glory 
on His lowly throne, and give the habit of His Blessed 
Mother to the first four daughters of Teresa. It. must have 
been a refreshing sight, a glimpse of that far country where it 
has been said Christians shall never misunderstand one another ; 
and we can forgive the good priest his long-continued and 
vexatious opposition to the Saint, in consideration of the 
magnanimous humihiy wherewith he that day testified in the 
face of the city, of which he had been so long deservedly the 
oracle, that he had made a great mistake. 

The habit given by S. Teresa to her daughters was of 
rough serge ; a veil of coarse unbleached linen covered their 
head, and their feet were bare. Two religious of the convent 
of the Incarnation, Agnes and Anne of Tapia, cousins-german 
of S. Teresa, were present at the ceremony, as were also 
Gt)nzalez of Aranda ; the holy Priest, Julian of Avila, brother 
to one of the novices ; Francis of Salcedo, with John of OvaUe, 
and Jane of Ahumada, who had toiled and suffered so gener- 
ously in the preparation for the work now thus happily begun. 
Guiomar d'Ulloa, whose absence had been judged necessary 
at this time, was in spirit by the side of her friend, and 
S. Peter of Alcantara, Peter Ibanez and Balthasar Alvarez, 
representing the three orders of S. Francis, S. Dominic, and 
S. Ignatius, offered the Holy Sacrifice in thanksgiving at their 
respective altars for the blessed work begun that day. 

Of the four maidens chosen by S. Teresa as the first pillars 
of her reform, the first was Antonia of Enao, a cousin of her 
own, and the spiritual daughter of S. Peter of Alcantara, 
whose blessing and approval S. Teresa accounted to be the 
wealthiest dowry which her first novice could bring with her. 
She bore in religion the name of Antonia of the Holy Ghost, 
and was remarkable for her exceeding purity and childlike 
simplicity. S. Teresa was wont to say of her that the devil 
could do nothing with Antonia, because of her obedience to 



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Mary de la Paz and Ursula of the Saints. 129 

her spiritiial directors. The second was a poor girl, named 
Mary de la Paz, who had been adopted bj Do£ia Guiomar 
d'Ulloa, and placed by her nnder the spiritual direction of her 
own confessor, F. Balthasar Alvarez. S. Teresa gave her the 
name of Mary of the Cross, and bore her an especial afiection 
on account of her perfection in obedience. The habitual 
ejaculation of this holy child of God was Tibi soli peccavi^ 
The third retained in religion the name which her parents had 
given her in baptism — Ursula of the Saints; for no holier 
name, in the judgment of S. Teresa, could be found for her. 

Ursula had lived much in the world and loved its vanities, 
but happily had fallen under the guidance of Gtuspar Daza, who 
disentangled her from its snares and taught her to fix all the 
affections of her strong and generous heart on Grod alone. 
She died in the Convent of S. Joseph in the year 1624, and 
S. Teresa, being then at Alva, saw her at the moment of her 
death ascend in a glorified form to Heaven. The name of the 
fourth was, in the world, Mary of Avila, in the cloister, 
Mary of S. Joseph. F. Ribera in his life of S. Teresa records 
that she was still living when he wrote, in the convent at 
Avila in great scmctity and edification. 

S. Teresa at this time laid aside the use of her family name^ 
by which she had been hitherto accustomed to sign her 
letters, for that of Teresa of Jesus, She is said to have been 
the first to extend the pious practice of thus exchanging the 
secular for a religious name to a whole Order or Congregation. 
It had been frequently adopted by individuals, but she seems 
to have set the example of a custom, now almost universally 
adopted in the religious Orders and Congregations of the 
Church. The contrary practice previously in use sounds 
strangely in our ears, when, in the stately Castilian fashion, 
so great a lover of simplicity as S. Peter of Alcantara addresses 
a letter of spiritual direction to a Carmehte nun under the 
high sounding title of The very magnifi^cent and most religious 
lady Dona Teresa d'Ahumada, At the same time she exchanged 
the seal bearing the device of a skull which she was accus- 
tomed to use for one engraved with the sacred name of Jesus. 
In a letter to her brother Laurence from Toledo, she begs hiTn 
to send her this seal, which she had lefb at Avila, ' because I 

K 



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130 Life of S. Teresa. 

cannot bear now to seal with that death's head, but only with 
that which I would to Gt)d were engraven on my heart, as it 
was on that of S. Ignatius.' 

Thus then was laid the first stone of that work of repara^ 
tion which Teresa of Jesus was to offer to the outraged heart 
of her Divine Spouse. It is remarkable that in the very year, 
1562, in which the Blessed Sacrament was placed on the altar 
of S. Joseph, a convent of CarmeHte firiars of the strict 
observance was dismantled, in the island of Cyprus, by the 
fury of the Turks. In this very year too, and, as some say, on 
this very Feast of S. Bartholomew, a church in France was for 
the first time desecrated and turned into a stable by the Hu- 
guenots. The thought of the terrible evils which heresy was 
inflicting upon that unhappy country was one of the motives 
which had stirred up the spirit of S. Teresa to attempt the 
work of her reform, and, in the judgment of more than one 
Catholic historian, the assuaging of the floods of heresy in the 
reign of Louis XIV. was due rather to the prayers of her 
children than to the arms or the policy of that mighty 
monarch. ' These Teresians,* said the Huguenot Governor of 
the city of Tours, * will make Papists of us all, whether we 
will or no.* 



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Tried of Desolation. 131 



CHAPTER Xn. 
1562-1567. 

TRIAL OP DESOLATION WHICH PELL VTOH S. TBKBSA 
BIATELT AFTEJl HEB FIBST FOUNDATION — SHE IS RECALLED 
TO THE CONVENT OF THE INCARNATION, AND SUMMONED 
BEFORE THE PROVINCIAL, WHO IS SATISFIED BY HER EXPLA- 
NATION — RENEWED CLAMOUR IN THE CITY, WHICH IS FINALLY 
APPEASED BY P. BANEZ AND GASPAR DAZA — TERESA IS ALLOWED 
TO RETURN TO S. JOSEPH'S — THE HOLINESS AND HAPPINESS 
OF THE LITTLE COMMUNITY;— TERESA'S INSPIRATION TO EX- 
TEND HER WORK — ^VISIT OP THE FATHER GENERAL — HE 
SANCTIONS THE ERECTION OF NEW CONVENTS OF THE REFORM 
FOR WOMEN — AND SUBSEUUENTLY OF TWO ALSO FOR MEN. 

The sacred fonctions were over, and Teresa was left in the 
long-desired place of her repose. All the cherished wishes of 
her heart had been granted far beyond her expectation or her 
hope. Yet there fell now upon her soul a mortal agony, such 
as in all her previous experience of trial and conflict it had 
never known before. The serpent had entered with her into 
her chosen paradise, and, baffled as he had been in all his 
exterior attacks, he threw himself now with more intense and 
envenomed hatred upon the citadel itself, the strong fortress 
of that holy woman's faith and constancy. He had chosen 
his time well, for truly he has had long experience of our 
variable and comphcated nature, and has observed it well. 
He knows better than we do how, after long tension of body 
and spirit in the pursuit of any object very near our heart, the 
powers of both will suddenly flag and fail, and leave us only 
tears to welcome its attainment. He knows, for he has once 
tasted the joys which are at God's right hand, the insufficiency 
of any other to satisfy an immortal spirit ; and he knows too^ 

k2 



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132 Life of S. Teresa. 

for he has watched every child of man fpom his cradle to his 
grave, that our fallen nature, even in the might of its regene- 
ration, is no longer strong enough to bear without faltering 
such a weight of heavenly glory as had now been laid upon 
the soul of S. Teresa. So he waited his time, and on the 
evening of that glorious Feast of S. Bartholomew he drew 
near to tempt her. 

' I think,' she says, ' it was some three or four hours after 
all was finished that the devil attacked me in the following 
manner : — He represented to me that what I had done had 
perhaps been ill done, and suggested whether I had not acted 
contrary to obedience by attempting to found the monastery 
without a command from the Father Provincial, for I imagined 
he might take some o£fenoe at my subjecting it to the Bishop 
before I had acquainted him of my intention, although as he 
was himself unwilling to admit the monastery, I thought he 
would not be displeased. The devil also suggested to me, 
whether those Bisters who were io live here in such austerity 
would be contented ; whether they might not sometimes come 
to want food ; whether the whole idea of the founxiation had 
not been a folly ; had I not a monastery of my own in which 
to serve God ? In a word, the command our Lord had given 
me, the opinions of so many others whom I had consulted ; the 
prayers which I had offered up without ceasing almost for two 
yiBars — all ihese things had now escaped my memory as com- 
pletely as if I had never entertained the thought of them. 
The project seemed to be all the offering of my own fancy. 
All virtues, and even &ith itself, seemed then to be suspended 
within me, so that I had no power to exercise one of them, or 
to defend myself from the blows of the devil. He also repre- 
sented to me the folly of attempting to keep enclosure in so 
strict a house, and that being afflicted with so many infirmities, 
I should never be able to endure such penance, after having 
left so spacious and delightfiil a convent, where I lived so 
happily and had so many friends. That perhaps the sisters 
would not prove to my liking ; that I was binding myself too 
strictly; that possibly I might fall into despair; and that 
perhaps the devil had instigated me to this to deprive me of 
my peace and quiet, and that being thus disturbed I should be 



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Spiritucd Agony. 133 

unable to contmne mj practice of mental prayer, and miglitin 
the end lose my soul. With thoughts of this nature he so 
filled my mind, that I had no power to think of anything else ; 
and all this was accompanied with inexpressible affliction, 
obscurity, and spiritual darkness. In this state of desolation 
I went to visit the most Blessed Sacrament, though I was 
unable to recommend myself to our Lord, being in an agony, 
like the agonies of death. I dared not mention my state to 
anyone, because I had not a confessor appointed for me. O 
my Grod ! what a miserable life is this, in which there is no 
secure contentment, nor anything without change ! A very 
short time before I was so happy, that I thought I would not 
have changed my condition with anyone on earth, and in a 
moment the very same thing that had given me such happiness, 
so tormented me that I knew not how ta bear it. Oh ! did we 
but carefully observe the events of our life, we should learn 
by our own experience how little we ought to esteem either 
its joys or its sorrows. This certainly seems to me to have 
been one of the sharpest attacks I ever had to endure during 
my whole life, my soul seemed then to have a presentiment of 
all it was hereafter to endure, though this suffering, had it 
lasted, would have far exceeded anything which afterwards 
came upon me.' 

Teresa knelt thus before the Blessed Sacrament, in anguish 
which was a faint shadow of the agony of Gethsemane, and 
she was comforted, not by the ministry of an Angel, but by 
the strong consolation of Him Who endured that agony that 
He might be able to Succour those in all ages who in their 
degree should be called to suffer the Hke. *Our Lord,' she 
continues, *did not abandon his poor servant, for He has 
always supported me in every tribulation, and so He did in 
this, for He gave me a ray of Kght to understand that those 
thoughts came from the devil, and that he suggested them all 
to terrify me with his Kes. Then I began to remember the 
strong resolutions I had made to serve our Lord, and the 
desires I had felt to suffer for His sake ; and I considered that 
if I intended to carry them out, I must not seek after ease ; 
that if I should meet with troubles and labours, there would 
ibe the greater merit therein ; and that if I bore them to 



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134 lAfe of S. Teresa. 

honoui* God, they might serve me instead of Purgatory. 
What was I afi^d of ? If I desired crosses, these were good 
heavy ones, and the more opposition, so much the more gain, 
and why did I want courage to serve One to whom I was so 
much indebted ? With these and other considerations, doing 
violence to myself, I promised before the most Holy Sacra- 
ment to do my utmost^ to obtain leave to come and dwell in 
this house, and in case I could do so with a good conscience, 
here to vow perpetual enclosure. As I was forming this re- 
solution, the devil immediately vanished, and left me quiet 
and content, and so I have continued ever since. All that is 
observed in this house respecting enclosure, penance, and 
other matters, have become extremely pleasant to me, and 
seem to me a very light yoke ; the delight which we experience 
therein is so very great, that sometimes I think I could not 
have chosen in the whole world any sweeter Hfe. This may 
be the reason that I now have better health than ever I had 
before ; or else because there is now both reason and necessity 
that I should be able to do what all the rest do, our Lord has 
perhaps been pleased to give me this consolation, and has 
enabled me, though with difficulty, to follow the community 
life ; and this strength of mine all wonder at who knew my 
infirmities. Blessed be He who gives every gift, and who can 
do all things by His power. I was very weary and much ex- 
hausted by this conflict, but I laughed to myself at the devil 
when I saw clearly it came from him ; I believe our Lord 
permitted it (for during twenty-eight years and more since I 
have worn the habit, I never knew, even for a moment, what 
sadness meant), in order that I might understand what a 
favour he had therein bestowed upon me, and from what a 
torment he had preserved me ; and also, that in case I should 
see any of the sisters in the Kke state, I might not be per- 
plexed, but rather compassionate her, and be enabled to con- 
sole her.' 

Foiled in his direct attack upon the faith and hope of Teresa, 
the enemy betook himself to the Convent of the Incarnation, 
already greatly disturbed by the tidings of the new foundation. 
He represented to the troubled minds of the nuns the disgrace 
and ridicule which would be brought upon their ancient and 



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She ia recalled to her Convent. .135 

venerable house by the erection of this miserable hovel, in 
which a spirit of vanity- and ambition had led their misguided 
sister to take np her abode. The Prioress was assailed by 
clamorous remonstrances and entreaties for the immediate 
recall and sunmiary punishment of the refractory religious. 

N'othing, certainly, but such a Divine command as Teresa 
had received, could have justified her in acting without the 
knowledge and consent of her immediate superior ; and it car 
be no matter of surprise or censure that a command shoulc 
have been sent to the Saint and her two kinswomen, Agne^ 
and Anne of. Tapia, to return immediately to their convent. 
Teresa received the obedience just as she had laid down, affce: 
her poor meal, to take a little rest after the fatigues of the 
preceding day, and the exhaustion of the night of ang^uisL 
w^hich had followed it. She obeyed without remonstrance or 
delay, leaving her four novices motherless on this their first 
day in reHgion. 

'As soon,' says she, 'as I received the message of the 
Prioress, I went immediately, leaving mynovices very unhappy. 
I saw I should now meet with many troubles ; but as the house 
was established, 1 did not disturb myself much about them. 
I gave myself to prayer, beseeching our Lord to help me, and 
begging my father, S. Joseph, that he would bring me back 
again to his dear house, and I oflfered up to him whatever I 
was about to suffer. Being exceedingly desirous of an oppor- 
tunity of suffering something for his sake, and in his service, 
I went in great joy, thinking they would certainly put me 
into prison. This I thought would be a great comfort to me, 
for there I should have no one to speak to, and should be able 
to repose a little while in solitude, which was .very necessary 
for me ; for, by conversing with so many people, I had been, 
as it were, ground to dust. 

' As soon as I arrived, I gave an account of myself to the 
Prioress, which somewhat pacified her. But the community 
sent for the Father Provincial, that the caufs might be heard 
before him. 

'As soon as he came, I was summoned to appear before him, 
and right glad was I to suffer something for the love of our 
Lord ; . without having, in this case, offended His Majesty, ox 



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136 Life of S. Teresa. 

done anything against my conscience or my Order, for I liad 
endeavoured, on the contrary, to promote its interests with all 
my strength, and for it I would willingly have died, my sole 
desire being that its rule should be observed in all its primitive 
perfection. I called to mind the sentence passed on our Lord, 
and saw how little in comparison was that which awaited me. 

* The Provincial blamed me very sharply, for I acknowledged 
my fault to him, as if I had been very guilty ; yet he did not 
reprove me so severely as the offence, as represented to him by 
so many, deserved. 

* I did not attempt to excuse myself, because I was resolved 
to suffer ; but only desired him to pardon and punish me, 
and not entertain any angry feelings against me. In some 
things I saw clearly that they condemned me wrongftdly; 
for they said I had begun this work to obtain for myself a 
name and reputation, and so forth. But in other things I was 
convinced that what they said was true ; as, for instance, 
that I was the worst of all the nuns ; that not having observed 
the rule in force in that house, it was presumption to think of 
subjecting myself to one of greater austerity. They said also 
that I gave scandal to the people, and thought of nothing but 
introducing novelties. These accusations did not give me 
any trouble or pain, though I took care not to seem to disregard 
what they said to me. At last, the Father Provincial having 
commanded me to declare there before the nuns my reasons 
and intentions in what I had done, I was obliged to obey. As 
my soul was at peace, and our Lord assisted me, I so explained 
fuy reasons that neither the Provincial nor the nuns present 
found any cause to condemn me. I spoke afberwards to the 
Father Provincial alone, and informed him more in detail of 
the progress of the affsdr. He was quite satisfied, and promised 
that he would give me leave to remove to the new house, if 
I could find means to appease the tumult in the city, which 
was very great.' 

Peace having Ij^n now restored to the heart of S. Teresa, 
the anger of the nuns of the Licamation appeased, and the 
F. Provincial satisfied, the author of discord had betaken him- 
self once more to the citizens of Avila, and stirred up such 
fear and perturbation amongst them as would hardly have 



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TumvU in the City. 137 

conyulsed the City of Knights, had an army of infidel Moors 
suddenly appeared at its gates. It was no vulgar clamour, 
but a panic which had seized all the authorities of the city, 
ecclesiastical as well as civil. At the end of three days which 
had been spent in the consideration of this weighty affair, the 
governor called together a council, consisting of the magis* 
trates and some members of the cathedral chapter ; a decree 
was passed, in accordance with the excited spirit of the as- 
sembly, to the effect that the new convent should be suppressed, 
and that on no account whatever should the safety of the com- 
monwealth be thus risked by the caprice of a woman. 

The governor repaired in person to the convent, and in 
great wrath commanded the four novices to depart im- 
mediately, threatening that, unless they instantly obeyed, he 
would cause the Blessed Sacrament to be consumed, break 
down their doors and drag them by main force out of the 
cloister. But the novices answered, with a courage worthy of 
their mother, that they would not come forth except at the 
conomand of him who placed them there ; that their superior 
was the Bishop, not the governor, and that he had better take 
care how he broke the doors and removed the Blessed Sacra- 
ment, because he would find that he had a judge on earth, 
even the king, and another in Heaven, even God. The courage 
of the angry governor quailed before this calm reply, and he 
retired to ponder over a more legitimate mode of effecting his 
purpose. 

On the following day he reassembled the council, and to 
give greater solemnity to its decision, he summoned two grave 
and learned religious of every Order in the town to assist at 
its deliberations. The governor addressed the assembly with 
great vehemence, stating first, that this foundation was a 
novelty, and therefore to be suspected; secondly, that the 
foundress was a woman given to private revelations, which 
made it much more to be suspected, seeing that in those times 
so many of her weak sex had been carried away by notable de- 
lusions ; that the city of Avila was already sufficiently pro- 
vided with convents both for men and women ; and therefore 
that the erection of another was simply superfluous and bur- 
densome ; fourthly, that the one in question was rendered 



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138 Life of S. Teresa. 

much more bttrdensome by the fact of its being without any 
provision for the support of its members, which would fall as 
an additional tax upon the citizens ; fifthly and lastly, he com- 
plaiued that the monastery had been founded without his 
knowledge, and without the consent of the city having been 
asked. 

Such were the pohtic reasons adduced by the governor 
agaiust the new foundation ; the greater part of his hearers 
blindly assented, without giving themselves the time or the 
trouble to weigh their worth. Some perhaps, though uncon- 
vinced, wanted resolution to oppose the stream. One man 
alone had zeal and courage enough to enter the hst in defence 
of the forlorn cause of Holy Poverty. This was F. Dominic 
BaSez, of the Dominican Convent of S. Thomas. 

Modestly apologising for his boldness in opposing so many 
and such grave personages, he set himself to answer, one by 
one, the objections of the governor. Not every novelty, he 
said, is blameable, otherwise no religious Order could ever 
have arisen in the Church, for every religious Order must have 
been at one time new, adding that the faith of Jesus Christ Him- 
self once bore the character of novelty ; moreover, he denied 
that the foundation of Mother Teresa was a noveliy at all. 
* That which is introduced,' said he, ' for the greater glory of 
Qt>d, and for the reformation of manners, should not be called 
a novelty or an innovation, but rather a renovation of virtue, 
which is always ancient.' He went on to refute the other ob- 
jections, acknowledging that he himself was of opinion that it 
would be more expedient for the monastery to possess revenues, 
but that this, as it seemed to him, was a point of minor import- 
ance. As to the convent having been erected without the con- 
sent of the city, it had been founded by the authority of the 
Holy See, and with the approval of the Bishop, who .was the sole 
judge in such cases. The assembly was greatly amazed at the 
holy courage of Baiiez, and even those who were most bitterly 
opposed to the reform, felt that they dared not attack it with- 
out farther reflection. Banez himself has left us a memorial 
of this fact in the following lines written with his own hand 
in the margin of the original life of S. Teresa, preserved in 



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F, Dominic Banez, 139 

tlie library of the Escnrial : * This was in the year 1562, and 
this opinion was given by me, Father Dominic Baflez.' 

And as a witness in the process of canonization he thus 
deposes : — * In her first foundation she had to endure great 
controidiction from the city, and from the religious Orders. I 
alone at that time took her part. For though I did not then 
know her, even by sight, I defended her, because I considered 
that she had not erred, either in her intention or in the means 
which she had adopted for the foundation of this monastery, 
since she had done everything by direction of the Holy See.' 
S. Teresa herself thus writes : * This rehgious of the Order of 
S. Dominic was of great use to us, for judging by the fary 
which possessed the city, it was a great marvel that the 
monastery was not destroyed.' 

Father Dominic Banez was one of the most celebrated 
theologians of his day. Three years after the foundation of 
S. Joseph's, S. Teresa chose him for her confessor during the 
eight succeeding years which he passed at Avila. It was by 
his command that she wrote her Way of Perfection, 

Meanwhile the tumult in the city waxed more furious every 
day. *The excitement of the people was so great,' says the 
Saint, ' that no one talked of anything else, and all condemned 
me; running first to the Provincial and then to my monastery: ' 
adding, with the sweet and noble candour which always 
marked her judgment of her adversaries : * They gave their 
reasons and showed great zeal, and thus, without offending 
God, they made me and all who were favourable to the foun- 
dation endure great persecutions. I was no more moved,* 
she continues, ' by what they said against me, than if they 
had said nothing, but the fear lest the monastery should be 
dissolved, and the knowledge of what affliction they who 
assisted me endured, and that they were losing credit on my 
account, grieved me exceedingly. As to what was said about 
myself, I was rather glad of it, and if I had had a Httle more 
faith, I should not have felt the least disturbance. But even 
a slight defect in any one virtue, is sufficient to lay asleep all 
the rest. During the two days in which the meetings were 
held in the city, I was very much troubled ; but when my 



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140 Life of S. Teresa. 

sadness was at its height, our Lord said to me, '' Dost thou 
not know that I am all powerfal? Of what then are yon 
afraid ? " And He assured me that the monastery should not 
be dissolved. These words consoled me very much. 

*In the meantime, the authorities of the city carried the 
matter before the king's council, whence came an order that 
a ftdl account should be drawn up of the foundation of this 
monastery. Here, therefore, arose a great difficulty, for as on 
the part of the city some had gone to the court, it became 
necessary that others should go on the part of the monastery ; 
but we had no money, and I knew not what to do. Our Lord 
so ordered that the Provincial never commanded me to desist 
from prosecuting the business ; for he is such a friend to any 
good work, that though he might not assist us in the matter, 
he would not put any obstacle in our way. Still he would 
not grant me leave to remove to the new house till he should 
see what the result would be. Those servants of God (the 
four novices) remained there alone, and did more by their 
prayers than I with all my labours, though I was obHged to use 
my utmost endeavours. Sometimes all seemed lost, especially 
one day before the arrival of the Father Provincial, when the 
Prioress commanded me not to do anything in the matter, 
vrhich was in fact to give up everything. I then went to our 
Lord, and said to Him, " This house is not mine, it has been 
established for Thee alone ; and since there is no one to 
conduct the case, be Thou pleased to undertake it Thyself! " 
Hitving spoken those words, I felt as perfectly at peace and as 
entirely fi^e from care as if I had all the world to labour for 
me ; and I unmediately considered the success of our cause to 
be certain. A priest (Gonzalez d'Aranda), who is a great 
servant of God, and zealous for every kind of perfection, and 
who had always befriended me, went to court to defend our 
cause, and was exceedingly earnest in promoting it ; and that 
devout gentleman (Francis de Salcedo), whom I have often 
already mentioned, laboured exceedingly in the matter, and 
did all he could to favour us ; not, however, without bringing 
upon himself many troubles and persecutions. I always 
esteemed him, and do still esteem him, as our father. Our 
Lord, indeed, inspired those who assisted us with such zeal 



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Our Lord forbids any Concession. 141 

and fervotLT, that each took up the busiiiess as if it had been 
his own private affair, and as if his life and hononr had been 
at stake ; their only motive being, however, the conviction 
that this work would tend to the glory of God. Our Lord 
vouchsafed especial help to a certain holy priest (Caspar 
Daza), who was of great assistance to me in this affair ; for in 
another great assembly held in the city, he appeared in behalf 
of the Bishop, and stood alone against everyone. He at last 
appeased them by proposing certain expedients, which sufficed 
to calm their ftiry, and delay the design of dissolving the house. 
But nothing would induce them wholly to desist; for they 
soon returned to the charge, and seemed willing to lose their 
lives if only they could destroy the monastery. This opposi- 
tion lasted for nearly half a year ; and to relate all the great 
afflictions I endured during that time would be too tedious. I 
was astonished to see what a storm the devil was able to raise 
against a few poor women, and how he contrived to persuade 
all the people that twelve women and a prioress, for they were 
not to exceed this number, could prove so injurious to the 
city, especially as they were to lead such a very austere and 
retired life ; for, supposing there were any evil therein, it 
would all faU upon themselves, and the city would not suffer 
any loss ; but these good people fancied so many misfortunes 
would happen, that they opposed the foundation with a good 
conscience. At length they came to the conclusion, that in 
case the moifastery were endowed, they would be content that 
it should go on. I was now so wearied out with seeing the 
trouble of all those who assisted us, that, more for their sake 
than my own, I began to think that it would not be wrong to 
receive revenues till the storm should be over, and that after- 
wards I might refuse them. And sometimes I also imagined 
(like a wicked and imperfect creature as I am) that this might 
perhaps be our Lord's pleasure since, without this concession, 
it seemed impossible that the house should be founded, and I 
was on the point of consenting to this agreement ; but the 
night before it was to be concluded, our Lord said to me, in 
prayer, " My daughter, make no such agreement, for if once you 
begin to admit an endowment, the people will not afterwards 
allow you to refuse itj " adding, also, other things.. 



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142 Life of S. Teresa. 

' The same night there also appeared to me the holy friar 
Peter of Alcantara, who died a short time before. He had 
written to me before his death (having heard of the opposition 
and persecution we endured), that he was glad the house 
was founded in the midst of such great opposition, for it was 
a sign that our Lord would be trulj served and honoured 
therein, since the devil laboured so much to hinder it, and 
that I should not by any means consent to have it en- 
dowed. He repeated this two or three times over in his letter 
with great earnestness, assuring me that if I contiuued firm, 
all would succeed as I desired. I had already seen him twice 
since his death, and observed the glory he was in, and so I 
was not at all fiightened, but rather rejoiced, for he always 
appeared like a glorified body fiill of light, and it gave me the 
greatest delight to behold him. I remember, the first time I 
saw him, he told me, amongst other things, of the great bliss 
he enjoyed, and how blessed was that penance whereby he had 
obtained so high a reward. 

* This time, however, he showed a little severity, and only 
told me by no means to accept revenue. He asked me why I 
had not followed his advice, and immediately vanished, leaving 
me greatly amazed. Early in the next day I acquainted the 
above-named gentleman (Don F. Salcedo) with what had 
happened, and told him not to consent in any way to an 
endowment, but to carry on the suit. He was overjoyed to 
hear this, for his fimmess was greater than mine, amd he after- 
wards told me how unwilling he had been to make the pro- 
posed concession.' 

The dispute between the civil authorities and the poor 
foundress of S. Joseph's had dragged on for nearly six months, 
and seemed as far as ever from an adjustment. Teresa's 
heart sank within her at the proposal of one whom she calls 
* a holy servant of God,' to submit the question of its endow- 
ment to the decision of learned men, for she well remembered 
the wamiug of S. Peter of Alcantara not to ask counsel con- 
cerning the way of perfection except of those who foUow it. 
Just at this moment of need, our Lord once more sent her an 
efficient helper in the person of Father Peter IbaSez, who, 
hearing by apparent accident of the destruction which 



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She is restored to her Children. 143 

threatened lier work, came to Avila on purpose to give her his 
assistance. 

The force of his arguments, and the influence exercised by 
his character, both for learning and sanctity, at last brought 
the men of Avila to reason, and induced them to lay aside the 
senseless opposition by which they had for more than two 
years striven against the blessing which God was about to 
bestow upon their city. 

A second brief, which arrived from Bome on December 5, 
authorising and enjoining the establishment of the new 
foundation in strict poverty, overruled the last ground of 
objection by the supreme authority of the Holy See ; and there 
was no obstacle now to the return of Teresa to her deserted 
children but the extreme timidity of the good Father Provin- 
cial, who still delayed from day to day to give his promised 
consent, till, urged by the necessity of the case and the great 
injury inflicted upon the novices, left thus, month after month, 
without the care of their mother in reHgion, the Saint ex- 
claimed, with holy indignation : ' Remember, Father, that we 
are resisting the Holy Ghost.' These words, and the tone of 
inspiration with which they were uttered, at last put an end 
to the irresolution of Father Angelo Salazar, and he not only 
gave permission to the Saint to return to S. Joseph's, but 
allowed four religious from the Incarnation, who desired to 
embrace the reform, to accompany her. 

For six long months the four novices had persevered in their 
forlorn condition, in the practice of all the virtues of the 
religious life, under the never-failing guidance of the Spirit of 
God, but destitute of any human direction but that which they 
received from the good priest Gaspar Daza, to whose care they 
had been committed by the Bishop of Avila. Ursula of the 
Saints, by the direction of S. Teresa, held the office of supe- 
rioress. 

Having no one to instruct them in the recitation of the 
Divine office, the Httle community said that of the Blessed 
Virgin in choir. They ceased not, with many tears, to beseech 
our Lord to restore their beloved mother to them ; and at last, 
in the latter part of December 1562, they had the unspeak- 
able happiness of receiving her once more amongst them. 



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144 Life of 8. Teresa. 

She came accompanied by the four fervent sonls who had 
voltmteered upon this service of suffering and of glory, and 
bringing with her, as her only portion, a paillasse, an iron 
chain, a discipline, and an old patched habit, having left behind 
her an acknowledgment in her own hand- writing that she 
accepted all these valuables, simply as a loan from her former 
convent. 

Before she entered the enclosure she remained for awhile in 
prayer with her four companions in the chapel, pouring forth 
the gratitude of her ftdl heart before the Blessed Sacrament. 
Here falling into an ecstasy, our Lord was pleased to assure 
her of His gracious acceptance of all that she had done and 
suffered for the Order of His Blessed Mother, *He placed,' 
she says, * a glorious crown upon my head, and thanked me for 
what I had done for His Mother.' 

Teresa now set herself to the joyfiil task of estabhshing 
regular discipline in the little communiiy, and of instructing 
the docile novices, who had so ardently longed for her holy 
teaching, in all things belonging to the perfection of their 
state. She began her lessons by setting an example of pro- 
found hximility in appointing two of the religious who had 
accompanied her from the convent of the Incarnation to 
be Prioress and Sub-Prioress. This appointment was over- 
ruled by the Bishop, at the earnest petition of the com- 
munity, and Teresa was compelled to fill the place of 
Prioress. She contrived, however, to neutraHse what she 
dreaded as the effects of this compulsory elevation, by using 
her authority to monopolise for herself all the most dis- 
tasteful and hunuliating employments in the house. Under 
the rule of such a superioress, the Convent of S. Joseph's 
speedily became a model of sanctity, and an example of the 
ancient Carmelite perfection. All those points of the rule 
which had come to be considered impracticable even for strong 
men, were cheerfully followed by these young and feeble 
women, some of whom had but lately left comfortable homes 
and secular lives, whilst others, like the holy foundress herself, 
were so delicate in health, as apparently to want strength for 
the observance of a far milder rule. They practised (except 
in case of sickness) perpetual abstinence from flesh-meat, 



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Spirit of ihe Iifiatitute. 145 

ngorouB silence aad retiremeiit, and a fast of eight months in 
the year. To these mortifications, prescribed by the original 
Carmelite rule, the Saint, with the approbation of the Bishop 
of Avila, added others admirably well adapted to promote its 
more exact and perfect fulfilment. The Hnen worn at the 
Convent of the Incarnation was exchanged at S. Joseph's for 
a coarse woollen serge, the shoes for sandals, the comfortable 
mattrasses gave place to a single paillasse, or rather sack of 
straw, and the abundant and well-served table to a dinner of 
coarse bread and common vegetables. Matins were recited in 
choir three hours before midnight, becanse, as the traditions of 
the Order say, no other religions institute is at that hour offer- 
ing praises to God. After MatiDs followed the examination of 
conscience, the points were read of the following morning's 
meditation, and the sisters retired to rest at about an hour 
before midnight. The convent and all its arrangements em- 
bodied and symbolised the spirit of holy simplicity and poverty 
which dwelt in the hearts of its inmates ; there were no need- 
less ornaments, no wide cloisters, no roomy cells, for S. Teresa 
was wont to say that it was not fitting that the houses of the 
poor should make a great noise when they fall at the day of 
judgment. The religious were not permitted to sleep in a 
common dormitory, nor to labour in a common workroom, lest 
the silence and recollection, which were to be the principal 
means of attaining the end of their institute, should be in- 
Muged. 

The chief aim of S. Teresa m all her regulations was to 
establish a fervent, assiduous exercise of mental prayer and 
interior recollection, as the principal means to attain the per- 
fection aimed at iu the Order of Mount Carmel. She there- 
fore forbade her daughters to go to the grate, except on very 
rare occasions, teaching them to find their only pleasure in 
conversing with God ; and for this purpose she caused little 
hermitages to be constructed in the garden, to which they 
might retire for long and fervent prayer. Were not these the 
realization of those which she and her brother Roderick in 
their childish play had erected long -ago in their father's 
garden ? She caused a religious to be elected under the name 
of ' Zelatrix,' whose office was to give notice to the sisters in 

L 



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146 Life of S. Teresd. 

the refectory afber supper or collation of any slight failings 
which she might have observed during the day which had 
escaped the notice of the superioress. She was most anxious 
to banish idleness from her community, and therefore earnestly 
impressed upon the sisters the duty of unremitting occupation. 
She forbade the practice in use in the Convent of the Incar- 
nation and in other religious houses of the time, of giving to 
the sisters the name of * Dona,' or * Lady,' and ordered that 
they should call each other * Sister,' or * Your Charity,' and 
that the Prioress should be distinguished by the sweet 
name of ' Mother,' and honoured only by the title of * Your 
Reverence.' 

For herself — ^foundress, superioress, and legislatrix, as she 
was, she would accept no pre-eminence, except that of being 
chief in labour and humiliation. She was the first and the 
busiest in sweeping the house, washing the dishes, serving in 
the kitchen and in the infirmary. In the week when the 
cook's office fell to her share, she fulfilled it with such care and 
attention as if the whole power of her strong will and rare 
intellect were concentrated upon the work in hand. And as 
an illustration of the true nature of devotion, on those days she 
would not allow herself to remain in the choir with the other 
sisters for their accustomed long devotions after Communion ; 
but leaving them to enjoy the Presence of our Lord, she re- 
turned, after a short thanksgiving, to the kitchen to serve Him 
in this lowly ministry to the necessities of His spouses. The 
example which she set of all other virtues was no less bright 
than of this her great humility ; she was uniformly sweet and> 
gentle to her daughters, austere only to herself. Though 
worn with pain and sickness, she relaxed nothing of the 
severity of her penances, treating her feeble and sensitive body 
as if it had possessed the insensibility of a stone. It was the 
belief of her confessors that, but for the prudent restraini/ 
which they laid upon her austerities, she would, in the excess 
of her love for her crucified Lord, and her desire to render to 
Him sufiering for suffering, have shortened her life by the 
rigour of her penance. • 

The first daughters of S. Teresa were worthy of their 
mother. In the beginning of her book of foundations, she 



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First Daughters of 8. Teresa, 147 

thus writes with a holy wonder and enthusiasm of the heroic 
virtues of these first fruits of her reform : — 

* I lived five years in the Convent of S. Joseph at Avila after 
it was founded ; and it appears to me now that these were the 
most quiet years of my life ; the tranquilhty and cahnness of 
that happy time my soul has since oftentimes longed for. 
During this period several young ladies received the habit, 
whom the world, to all appearance, seemed likely to hold 
captive, to judge by their fine dress and frivoHty ; but our 
Lord soon removed them from these vanities, by drawing 
them to His house, and endowing them with such great per- 
fection, that I was even ashamed to live amongst them. 
Their number soon amounted to thirteen, which I had deter- 
mined not to exceed. It was very sweet to live amongst such 
pure and holy souls, for all their care was to serve and praise 
our Lord. His Divine Majesty sent us there everything 
that was necessary for us, without our asking for it; and 
whenever we were in want (which was but seldom), their joy 
was the greater. I praised our Lord at the sight of such 
heroic virtue, and especially of their indifference about every- 
thing relating to the body. Even I, who was their superioress, 
never remember to have been troubled with any care in this 
matter, because I firmly beheved that our Lord would not be 
wanting to those who had no other wish but to please Him, 
and, if sometimes when there was; not enough for aU, I said 
that those only who stood most in need of it should partake of 
what food we had, each one considered herself not to be in 
need, and thus the food remained till Gk)d sent sufficient for all. 

* With regard to the virtue of obedience — which I valued so 
much (though I knew not how to practise it till these 
servants of God taught me ; for if I possessed any virtue I 
should never be ignorant of it) — I could mention many things 
which I here saw in them. As for instance : one day in the 
refectory, a few cucumbers were given to us at our meal ; a 
very small one, which was rotten inside, fell to my share. 
Appearing not to be aware of this, I called one of the sisters 
who had more judgment and talent than the others, Mary of 
S. J. Baptist (itt the world, Mary of Ocampo), and to try her 
obedience, I told her to go and plant the cucumber in a little 

l2 



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148 Life of S. Teresa. 

garden that W6 had. She asked me whether she should plant 
it upright or downwards. I said downwards, and immediately 
she did so, without the thought once occurring to her that it 
must wither immediately, for her esteem for obedience so 
brought her natural reason into the captiyity of Christ, as to 
make her believe the thing was quite proper to be done. 

* I once imposed on a sister at one time six or seven incom- 
patible offices, which she undertook without saying a word^ 
thinking it possible to perform them all. 

* We had a well containing very bad water (according to the 
report of those who had tried it), which I wished to have 
conveyed by a pipe to our house ; thinking that if the water 
could once be made to flow, it might serve for us to drink ; 
but this appeared to be impossible, as the well was very deep. 
However, I called in some skilful workmen, to see what they 
could do ; but they laughed at me as if I had wished to throw 
money away. Thereupon, I asked the sisters what they 
thought of the matter ? The same sister said that the work 
should be attempted, adding " our Lord is obHged now to give 
us water from without, and moreover, wherewithal to pay 
those who bring it to us. It will co^t His Majesty less to give 
it to us in our house, and tissuredly He will not fail to do so." 
Seeing the great faith and resolution with which she spoke, I 
considered the matter quite certain, and therefore, contrary to 
the wish of the person I employed (who knew what kind of 
water was in the well), I ordered the work to be done, and 
our Lord was pleased that we should obtaiu a current of good 
water, sufficient for our wants, which we drink at this day. 

' I am not citing this as a miracle, for many such things oould 
I relate, but only to show the great faith of these sisters. 

* I Hved then amongst these angelic souls, for such I knew 
them to be, because they concealed no imperfection from 
me, however interior it might be ; and the favours, the ardent 
desires, and the detachment from worldly things which our 
Lord gave them, 'were very great and wonderful 

*" Solitude was their joy, and they have accordingly assured 
me that they were never tired of being alone, and that it was 
quite a torment to them when anyone, even their own brothers, 
oaane to see theih. ^e who had the most time to remain in a 



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Apostolic Zeal. 149 

. little hennitage we liad in the garden, esteemed herself the 
happiest.' 

Sueh was the blessed community to which our Divine Lord 
had given the name of the Paradise of His delights, and over 
which S. Teresa saw our Blessed Lady spreading her mantle 
in token of her special protection. 

The prejudice and opposition of the citizens of Avila melted 
away before the fervent prayers and the saintly lives of those 
whom they had sought to banish, as the consumers of their 
substance, and the troublers of their peace ; and Teresa was 
left undisturbed to svng the mercies of the Lord, and to thank 
Him for the holiness of her children. She pondered in grate- 
ftd wonder over the treasure which He had placed iu her 
hands, marvelling how she should lay it out to the best account 
for His honour and glory. * When I was considering the great 
value of these souls, and the courage which God gave them, 
beyond that of women, to suffer and to serve Hun, I thought 
many times that the riches with which our Lord endowed 
them were given for some great end ; that, however, never 
came into my thoughts, which afterwards hapj^ened ; for then 
it appeared to me a thing impossible, as I could see no grounds 
even to imagiue what was to come ; and in the meanwhile, as 
time went on, my desires increased more and more to be 
instrumental in doing some good to any souls. And thus it 
appeared as if my soul was bound : and often I seemed like 
one that had a great treasure to guard, and who' was desirous 
that all should share in it ; and yet my hands seemed tied, so 
as to prevent me from distributing it : thus my soul seemed 
bound, for the favours which God bestowed on me in these 
years were very great, but being concentred in myself, they 
appeared to be ill bestowed. But I endeavoxired to please the 
Lord with my poor prayers, and always exhorted the sisters to 
do the same, and to be zealous for the good of souls, and for 
the extension of the Chxirch: and whoever conversed with 
them was always edified ; so my desires to labour for the glory 
of God continued to increase.' 

How vividly does this union of Apostolical zeal and fervent 
contemplation remind us of l^t great Saint, whom of all 
others S. Teresa perhaps most closely resembles, both in the 



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150 Life of S. Teresa. 

intense energy of her natural cliaracter, the depth of her 
human affections, and the fervour of Divine charity which 
consoined her whole being as a holocaust to God ; of hiTn who 
had been caught up to Paradise to behold ' the joys which are 
at God's right hand,' who thus knew what it was * to depart 
and be with Christ, and yet could choose to be absent from 
Him, for his brethren's fiake — ^for the sake of the souls for 
which He died ! ' 

It was revealed on one occasion by S. Teresa after her death, 
that, for her fervent love of souls, our Lord had committed to 
her patronage the conversion of heretics. Surely such an 
office must place her throne in the kingdom of Gt)d not far 
from that of the Apostle of the Gentiles. 

So the fire waxed hotter and fiercer within her, till at last 
her Divine Master showed her to what end He had kindled it. 

* After four years,' she says (after the foundation of S. 
Joseph's), * or it may be a Httle more, a religious of the Order 
of S. Francis, lately returned from the Indies, came to see me : 
his name was F. Alphonsus Maldonado, a great servant of 
God, having th'e same desires as I had myself for the good of 
souls, but havmg the power also to accomplish them, for 
which I envied him extremely. As he had lately come from 
India, he began to tell me how many millions of souls were 
lost in the countries whence he came for want of instruction, 
and he preached us a sermon on the subject, exhorting us to 
do penance ; and so departed. I was so much afflicted at the 
loss of all these souls that I could not contain myself, and I 
went to one of our hermitages, and there, with many tears, 
cried to our Lord, beseeching Him to give me the means 
whereby I might be able to gain some souls to His service, 
since the devil was robbing Him of so many, and that He 
would make my prayers of some avail, since I could do nothing 
for them but pray. I envied those greatly who, for the love 
of God, were able to spend themselves in this work, though 
they should suffer a thoujsand deaths. Thus, when we read in 
the Lives of the Saints, how they converted souls, this thought 
excites within me more devotion, more tenderness and envy, 
than all the tortures endured by the martyrs ; and by this 
feeling with which our Lord has inspired me, I see that He 



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Order of Mount Carmd. 151 

values one soul whicii we gain tkrongh TTi« mercy, by our 
prayers, more than all the other services we can render Him. 

' One night while I was in prayer (in this great affliction), 
onr Lord presented himself to me in His accustomed manner ; 
and showing me much affection, as if he wished to console me. 
He said : '* Wait a httle while, my daughter, and thou shalt 
see great things." These words remained so fixed in my 
heart, that I was unable to drive them from me ; and though 
I could not conjecture nor see any ground to imagine what 
they meant, yet I was greatly consoled, and felt certain the 
words would come true, but by what means never entered my 
imagination to conceive, and thus another year passed.' 

The means by which ' the great things ' promised by our 
Lord were to be brought to pass remained still a mystery, but 
the end before her gradually assumed a more definite shape in 
the mind of S. Teresa. 

In the foundation of the Convent of S. Joseph, her only 
thought had been to found a retreat, in which she, and others 
Hkemiuded with herself, might perfect their own souls in the 
strict observance of their holy rule, and offer fervent, prayers 
for the souls of others ; but in her ascent of the heights of 
perfection, one mountain rpnge after another opened on her 
view; and now, as she pondered over those words of her 
Lord : * my daughter, wait awhile, and thou shalt see great 
things,' she beheld the wide extent of Carmel covered with 
convents, both of men and women, singiug the praises of Grod, 
and labouring for the souls for which He died, under a rule of 
primitive austerity. 

There is no Order in the Church whose traditions are so 
majestic and so ftdl of sacred poetry as the Order of our 
Lady of Mount Carmel, reaching back, as it does, nine centu- 
ries before the birth of our Divine Lord ; carrying on its suc- 
cession from the elder to the later Church, and tracing its 
descent from hiTn who stood alone, the Prophet of the Lord, 
when all the people of Israel, save the seven thousand known 
only to the eye of God, had bowed the knee to Baal. 

It claims as its founder that wondrous Saint who, with 
his mysterious companion, is even now waiting in his mortal 
body, in some unseen abode, some far-off hermitage within the 



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162 Life of 8. Teresa. 

limits of this yifiible creation, the hour when a greater and 
more fearftd apostacy shall call him forth to witness once more 
for God.* The fonnder of the Order of Monnt Oarmel is the 
founder of the religions life in its earliest eremitical type, and, 
in his mysterions and silent vigil of nearly 3,000 years, he 
symbolizes, in his own person, the hidden and solitary life 
which is the portion and the privilege of his children. 

Nor is it only the awftd and venerable forms of Elias and 
Elisens, which hannt and hallow the steeps of Carmel. The 
Carmehte Order is the Order of the Mother of God ; her pe* 
cnliar heritage who, thongh in a most true sense the mother of 
all Christians, and the most loving mother of all the sponses 
of her Son, we may believe, has a special affection for the 
offspring of her own land and her own people. The tme 
Esther forgets not her brethren when she stands before the 
King. * The Glory of Carmel,' the royal daughter of Jnda, 
remembers the caves and grottoes in the rocks of Carmel and 
Horeb where her kindred dwelt, and worshipped the Gtxi of 
their fathers in pnrity fend peace, t and views with a pecnliar 
complacency those who have inherited that name, and carried 
the tradition of that life into the new creation of her Son. 

The Carmehtes of the first ages of the Christian Chnrch led 
a life closely resembling that of their fathers of the elder dis- 
pensation, as solitary dwellers in the desert. They were first 
formed into a commnnity abont the year 1210, when they 
received a written rule from S. Albert, then Patriarch of 
Jerusalem, which, amongst other regulations, enjoined them to 
abide in their cells day and night, unless otherwise occupied, 
as becometh hermits, in assiduous prayer ; to fast, except on 
Sundays, from the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross until 
Easter ; to observe perpetual abstinence from flesh ; to employ 
themselves in manual labour, and to keep silence daily from 
Vespers until after Tierce on the following day, Ac. 

The disasters which befel the Christian arms in Palestine 
obliged the Carmelites to seek refuge in Europe about the year 

* A constant tradition in the Church teaches that Enoch and £lia8 are 
to reappear before the second advent of our Lord. 

t See the Revelations of Catherine Emmerich concerning the ancestors 
ef the messed Yirgift. 



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SdaxoMon. 153 

1238. Here the Order spread with marvelloiifl rapidity ; and 
some points in the original rule of S. Albert having been 
found nnsnited to the nations of the West, it was submitted for 
revision by onr oonntryman S. Simon Stock, elected general 
of the Order in 1245, to Pope Innocent IV., then presiding at 
the General Conncil at Lyons. The necessaiy corrections and 
adaptations having been made by authority of the Holy See, 
the role, thus explained and perfected, has been ever since 
received in the Order as the primitive rule of Mount Carmel. 
It was the aim and the mission of S. Teresa to restore it to its 
first perfection. 

The lapse of time, and the downward tendency of human 
infirmity, gradually introduced declensions from a standard so 
far above its ordinary attainment ; and superiors were driven 
from time to time to ask the Supreme Authority of the Church 
for mitigations of a rule whose requirements they were no 
longer able to enforce. The declension of fervour was more- 
over aggravated by the breach of unity in the Order consequent 
upon the great western schism, in which the General, Bernard 
Ollery, unhappily espoused the causo of the anti-pope, and was 
deposed in consequence by Urban VI. Many houses of the 
Order still continued to acknowledge his authority, and to 
resist that of his legitimate successor ; and the consequent loss 
of unity brought with it, as usual, loss of grace and decay of 
discipline. 

The Carmelites, or White Friars of England, in consequence 
(we may hope) of the severily of their northern climate, were 
the first to ask for a dispensation of that point of the rule 
which forbade the use of flesh meat. This indulgence was 
granted to them, in the year 1396, by Boniface IX., and 
was extended by Eugenius IV., together with other miti- 
gations of the original rule, to the whole Order in the year 
1432. By the Bull of Eugenius, the religious of Mont Car- 
mel are relieved from three of the principal austerities of 
their institute. 1. The perpetual abstinence from flesh- 
meat is no longer required of them. 2. The daily fast, en- 
joined from the exaltation of the Holy Cross till Easter, is 
restricted to three days in the week. 3. The strict retirement 
in the cell, so strongly enforced by the rule, is mitigated, the 



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154 Life of S. Teresa. 

religious being permitted, at suitable hours, to converse 
together at their pleasure in the cloisters, or other parts of the 
monastery. 

Such was the prevailing practice of the Carmelite Order 
when S. Teresa was professed in the Convent of the Incarnation. 

At different times, and in various places, fervent souls had 
risen here and there, to attempt a return to the ancient ways. 
Amongst these, the most illustrious was the Blessed John 
Saret, elected General in the year 1451, who, with the ap- 
proval of the sovereign Pontiff, erected several convents of 
strict observance, both for men and women ; but notwith- 
standing the influence of his personal sanctity and the autho- 
rity of his position, he was unable to effect anything more 
than a partial and temporary renovation. Many subsequent 
attempts at reform by other holy men and prelates of the 
Order resulted, like this, in the establishment of isolated com- 
munities (such as was S. Joseph's at Avila at its first founda- 
tion), whose inmates, having sanctified their own souls in 
prayer and penance, went to their reward, leaving no visible 
impression upon the face of their Order, 

The Lord's time was not yet come. He was to save His 
people once more * by the hand of a woman ; ' the restored 
beauty of Carmel was to be the work of a humble and solitary 
nun, that * all men might see the glory of the Lord, and the 
beauty of our God.' 

The way was at last opened for the great things of which 
our Lord had spoken, by the arrival in Spain of the Father 
General of the Cannes, John Baptist Eossi, ' a man,' says 
S. Teresa, * much and deservedly esteemed in the Order.' He 
had been summoned to Spain by King Philip II., who, being 
anxious for the restoration of discipline amongst the rehgious 
of his kingdom, had earnestly invited the prelates of the dif- 
ferent Orders to make a visitation of their convents. At the 
command of Pope Pius IV., Eossi set forth on his journey to 
Spain in the beginning of the year 1566. On his arrival at 
Madrid, he was most graciously received by the king, who 
promised his assistance and protection in aU that he should do 
for the reform of his Order. The General proceeded to Seville, 
and on September 20, of the same year, he assembled a Provin- 



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Visit of the Father General. 155 

cial Cliapter, whicli was attended by more than two hundred re- 
ligious, whom he laboured very zealously to rouse to the ancient 
fervour. He enacted various new constitutions, omitting 
nothing which he judged likely to promote regular discipline. 

He next visited the whole province of Andalusia, whence, 
in the beginning of the year 1567, he returned into Castile. 
Here he found that the mind of Philip 11. had been poisoned 
against him by some of the religious of Andalusia, so that he 
refused to admit him to an audience. Upon this, the Greneral 
proceeded to Avila, where he assembled another solemn 
Chapter, in which Father Alonzo Gronzalez was elected Pro- 
vincial ; and here he had the happiness to meet S. Teresa, in 
whom he was to find an instrument for introducing a reform 
of far higher perfection than it had ever entered into his mind 
to conceive. 

Teresa had heard of the General's expected arrival at Avila 
with no httle anxiety, * for,' as she tells us, * I feared two 
things : the first, that the Greneral, not being folly informed of 
all that had passed, would be displeased with me (as he justly 
might have been) for having subjected the house to the Bishop 
instead of to the Order ; the other, that he would command 
me to return to the monastery of the Incarnation, which would 
have been a great affliction to me. But our Lord directed this 
matter better than I imagined, for the General, who was a man 
of great virtue and rare prudence, thought that I had done 
nothing wrong, and showed no displeasure with me. On his 
arrival at Avila, I prevailed on him to visit S. Joseph's, and 
the Bishop wished that the same attention should be paid to 
him as to his own person. I gave him an account of the 
foundation with all truth and simplicity, because it is my 
desire thus to act with my superiors, come of it what may, 
since they stand in the place of God. I do the same with my 
confessors, for if I did not, I think there would be no security 
for my soul. And thus I gave him an account of the monas* 
tery, and also of my whole life, though it has been so wicked. 
He consoled me greatly, and assured me that he would not 
command me to remove hence. He was very much pleased 
to see our way of Hving, which was an image, though imper- 
fect, of our Order at its commencement, and how the primitive 



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156 Life of 8. Teresa. 

rule was here observed in all its ngonr, which was not the 
case in any other monastery of the whole Order. As he had a 
great desire that this beginning shonld be carried on, he gave 
me seTeral letters-patent for the erection of more monas- 
teries, with an injunction that none of the provincials shonld 
prevent me. I had not asked these letters of him, bat he 
knew my manner of prayer, and the great desire I had to be 
the means of enabhng sonls to approach nearer to Gbd. Still 
it appeared to me madness to imagine that a poor weak woman, 
like myself, without a shadow of authority, could do anything. 
But when these desires come into a soul, it cannot reject 
them ; but &ith and love, and the burning desire to please 
Grod, and confidence in His Divine Majesty, make those things 
possible which seem impracticable to natural reason. Thus, 
when I saw the great desire of our very reverend Father 
General, that more monasteries should be founded, it seemed 
as if I saw them already established ; and remembering the 
words our Lord had spoken to me, I now perceived some 
beginning of that which before I could not understand. 
Therefore, when he was about to return to Borne, I was 
very much grieved ; for he had shown me the greatest affec- 
tion and &vour, and I had a high regard for him, and felt 
very desolate at his departure. Whenever he was disen- 
gaged, he used to come and converse with us on spiritual 
things, for he was one on whom our Lord had bestowed great 
&vours, and on this account it was a great comfort for us to 
hear him.' 

In one of. these confidential conversations, the Father 
CteneraJ, soon after his arrival at Avila, enquired of S. Teresa 
what had first moved her to attempt a work which God had 
so signally blessed. ' Most reverend Father,' she replied, * I 
had no other motive than charity towards God, chariiy towards 
myself and charity towards the Church.' And tiien with her 
wonted transparent simpKcity, she told him of her vow to do 
always that which is most perfect ; of the too great ease of her 
life at the Incarnation ; of the glory which might redound to 
the Church by the restoration of the CarmeHte rule to its 
primitive perfection ; of her hope that the prayers of these her 
sisters might avail to stay the headlong progress of heresy ; 



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Her Desire to erect Reformed Houses of Friars. 157 

and how she had been moved by all these thoughts to the 
foundation of that poor house of S. Joseph's. The good 
Father General, as we have seen, entered warmly into her 
design of extending her foundations ; but though he readily 
granted permission to multiply reformed convents for women 
in Castile, he was by no means prepared to grant, what was 
now the wish dearest to her heart, and to sanction the Kke 
foundations for men. S. Teresa ventured to lay this proposal 
before him ; but the recollection of the ^Bictious opposition 
which he had met with in Andalusia to far milder measures of 
reform than she suggested, was so fresh in his memory that he 
gave a decided negative to a scheme which, however desirable, 
appeared to him absolutely and hopelessly impracticable. 
Teresa dutiftiUy desisted from any forther importunities ; but 
the Bishop of Avila, supported by the opinions of Master 
Daza, Francis of Salcedo, Julian of Avila, and other holy men, 
both religious and secular, endeavoured to obtidn for her what 
she ceased to ask herself. 

The Bishop's interference in her behalf was the more gener- 
ous, inasmuch as the visit of the Father General to Avila 
had brought him a severe disappointment. There was but 
one point in the foundation of S. Joseph's which was unac- 
ceptable to the superior of the CarmeHtes, and that was the 
subjection of the convent to the Bishop instead of the Order. 
This arrangement had been made, as we have seen, in obe- 
dience to a direct revelation from our Lord as a means of 
protection to the infant community, but it was not to be per- 
manent. The fairest offshoot of Carmel was one day, as we 
shall see hereafter, to be reunited to its parent stem. The 
General was stiU more displeased to find that the obedience of 
Teresa herself, and of the two religious who had accompanied 
her from the Convent of the Incarnation, had been transferred 
fivm the Order to the Bishop. He observed certain informalL- 
ties in the brief by authority of which the exchange of juris- 
diction had been effected, and moreover assured the Saint that 
he possessed ample faculties, not only as G«n^*al of the Carmes, 
but as Apostolic Visitor, for restoring her, should such be her 
desire, to the obedience of the Order. Teresa desired nothing 
better : it had not been at her own wish, but simply in obe- 



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l58 Life of S. Teresa. 

dience to the Divine command, tliat she had separated herself 
fi*om the STiperiors of her Order ; and no sooner was the way- 
opened for her once more to place herself under their jurisdic- 
tion, than she willingly and thankftdly embraced it. The 
General, on his side, assured her that he would never com- 
mand, nor consent that any other prelate of the Order should 
command her to return to the Convent of the Incarnation. 

The. joy of S. Teresa on this occasion was qualified by the 
pain which she felt in grieving the good Bishop, who, in a few 
gentle words, expressed his sorrow that she should have with- 
drawn herself from his obedience. To Teresa's sensitive and 
gratefiil heart, this was one of the severest mortifications of 
her life. She bore it, however, calmly, patiently and humbly, 
until Alvarez de Mendoza came to see that he had no just 
cause for displeasure, and showed himself ever afterwards 
a no less faithful and generous protector of the reform than 
he had been at the first foundation of S. Joseph's. Thus he 
now used his powerfiil influence with the General of the 
Cannes in behalf of the foundation of convents of discalced 
friars in his diocese. 

* Before the Father General departed,' says the Saint, * the 
Lord Bishop, Don Alvarez de Mendoza, who loved much to 
assist all those whom he saw endeavouring to serve God with 
greater perfection, sought from him a license to erect in his 
diocese some monasteries of barefooted friars of the primitive 
rule ; others also made the same request. The Father General 
was himself desirous of effecting this object ; but as he feared 
some opposition to it in the Order, he deferred his assent for the 
present, lest he might cause some disturbance in the province. 

* A few days after his departure from Avila, when considering 
how necessary it was that, if I erected convents for nuns, 
there should also be some monasteries for men observing the 
same rule ; seeing also how few houses of the Order there 
existed in this province, after having earnestly recommended 
the matter to our Lord, I wrote a letter to our Father 
General, entreating him, as well as I could, to be favourable to 
this design, giving him reasons to prove that great honour 
would result therefrom to God ; and at the same time showing 
that the difficulties which might arise were not sufficient to 



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The Oeneral givea his Consent. 159 

hinder so good a work. I likewise placed before him the 
honour which would result to our Blessed Lady, to whom he 
was exceedingly • devout. She, it was, I doubt not, who 
managed this matter; for the Father Greneral, having received 
my letter when he was at Valencia, sent me from thence a 
license to found two monasteries of discalced friars, thus show- 
ing his desire to advance the greater perfection of the Order. 
And that there might be no opposition, he committed the 
execution of the matter to the Provincial then in office, and to 
the late Provincial (whose consent would, I know, be very 
difficult to obtain) ; but as I saw the principal point was 
gained, I had great hope that our Lord would also do the rest ; 
and so it happened, for, by the kindness of the Lord Bishop, 
who managed the business as if it were his own, both the 
Provincials were brought to give their consent.' 

The Father General, before his departure from Spain, went 
to Madrid to take leave of the king, who, being now better 
informed as to what had taken place iu Andalusia, received 
him graciously, and listened with great interest to his report 
of the steps taken for the reform of the Order. De Bossi 
spoke with great enthusiasm of Mother Teresa of Jesus, and 
of the great perfection of her institute. It was not the first 
time that her name had reached the ears of Philip 11., and he 
now besought the General to commend himself and his king- 
dom to her prayers and the prayers of her sisters. 

The General failed not to comply with his wishes ; and 
Teresa read the letter in which they were conveyed in full 
community, charging her daughters never to forget to pray 
for their king. It is manifest from her own letters to Philip, 
that she bore him respect and affection in a degree somewhat 
surprisiug to such as have formed their estimate of him from 
the testimony of Protestant historians. 

Teresa had now seen the dawn of the * great things ' pro- 
mised by our Lord, but difficulties seemingly insurmountable 
lay in the way. * I was much consoled,' she says, * at having 
obtained the license, but greatly troubled because there were 
no friars in the province that I could hear of to begin the 
work, nor any secular priests willing to embrace such a life. 
In this difficulty I could do nothing but beseech our Lord, that 



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160 Life of 8. Tereaa. 

He would be pleased to raise up at least one sucb person. I 
had neither house, nor means to purchase one. Here was a 
poor bare-footed nun, without anyone to help her but our 
Lord, ftimished with plentj of letters-patent and good desires, 
without any possibility of putting them in execution. But 
neither my courage nor confidence failed me ; for when I 
considered that our Lord, having granted one thing, would 
certainly grant the other, everything appeared to me possible, 
and so I began to set to work. 

* great God, how marvellously dost Thou show forth Thy 
power by giving courage to such an ant ! No, my Lord ! it is 
no fault of Thine that those who love Thee do not great things 
for Thee ; the fault is in our own cowardice and fears, because 
we never do anything for Thee without mingling with it a 
thousand apprehensions and human considerations! And 
therefore, my God, Thou displayest not Thy wonders and 
the greatness of Thy power ! Who is more disposed to give 
than Thou, were there any to receive ? Who more bounti^ 
than Thou in rewarding our poor services ? Oh ! that I may 
have done Thy Majesty some service, and not, rather, have the 
heavier account to give for all that I have received.' 

S. Teresa's history of her Hfe and the Wa/y of Perfectioti 
were both written during the five years succeeding the founds^ 
tion of S. Joseph's at Avila. 



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Foundation of Convent at Medina del Campo. 161 



CHAPTER Xm. 
1567. 

FOUNDATION OP CONVENT AT MEDINA DEL CAMPO— THE SAINT'S 
MODE OF TRAVELLING — MABT OF S. JEROME — HELEN DE 
QTJIROGA AND HER DAUGHTER — ^INSTRUCTION ON THE TRUE 
NATURE OF PERFECTION AND UNION WITH GOD — FATHER 
ANTONY DE HEREDIA AND S. JOHN OF THE CROSS EMBRACE 
THE REFORM. 

The time was not yet come for the erection of a house of re- 
formed Mars ; and Teresa, keeping the design close in her 
heart, set her hand to the work for which the General had left 
her not only a permission, but a command — ^that of extending 
her foundations for nuns. 

She chose for the site of her second convent the ancient 
and wealthy commercial town of Medina del Campo, being 
attracted to that place chiefly by the &.ct that the fathers of 
the Company of Jesus were established there, and in great 
repute amongst the citizens ; the rector of their college being 
Father Balthasar Alvarez, who had been her guide and con- 
fessor through so many trying and eventftil years. ' I vn^ote 
to him,' she says, * and told him what our General had per- 
mitted me to do, and he replied that he and aU the other 
members of his college would help me to the best of their 
power.' She wrote at the same time to Father Antoi^ of 
Heredia, formerly Prior of the Cannes at Avila, now superior 
of the Convent of S. Anne at Medina, to procure her a house. 
Father Alvarez lost no time in seddng the necessary licence 
for the foundation, to which great opposition at first arose. 
The old objections were renewed, which had been worn thread- 
bare at Avila, against new foundations, above all foundations 

M 



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162 Lif^ of S. Teresa. 

without revenues ; and the old accusations against the foun- 
dress of ambition, imprudence and feminine love of novelty, 
were repeated over and over again. Happily the same cham- 
pion who had defended her at Avila was at hand now. Father 
Dominic Baflez lent his powerful support to the arguments by 
which F. Alvarez sought to reassure the troubled minds of the 
authorities, ecclesiastical and secular, of Medina del Campo, 
and their consent was at last obtained for the foundation. 

The next step was to obtain a house. * I had no house,' said 
the Saint, * nor a farthing to buy one, and how could a poor 
stranger, as I was, have procured credit or trust, had not our 
Lord assisted us ? He so ordered, that a very virtuous lady, 
who had been unable to obtain admission into S. Joseph's 
Convent for want of room, hearing that another house was to 
be established, should come to me, and ask to be admitted into 
it. 

* She had some money, and though it was not sufficient to 
purchase a house, it enabled us to hire one, and helped to pay 
the expenses of the journey. And so a house was hired ; 
and without any other assistance but this, two nuns of S. 
Joseph's and myself, with four from the Convent of the Incar- 
nation, set off for Medina del Campo, together with our father 
chaplain, Julian d' Avila. When the matter was known 'in the 
city, there was great murmuring ; some said I was a fool ; 
others, that they waited to see the result of such madness. The 
Bishop also, as he afterwards said to me, thought it a very 
foolish undertaking, although he did not then tell me so, not 
wishing to hinder me, because having a great regard for me, 
he would not give me any uneasiness. My friends also spoke 
enough to me on the matter, but I took little notice of what 
they said, because that which they considered very doubtfiil, 
appeared to me so easy that I could not be persuaded it would 
prove a failure.' 

Meanwhile the good Father Prior had with no small dif- 
ficulty secured a house for the new foundation. 

' He treated on the matter with a lady who esteemed him 
much, and who had a house at her disposal, which, with the ex- 
ception of one apartment, was almost in ruins. This lady was 
80 kind, that she promised to sell it to him, and without re* 



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Her mode of Journeying. 163 

qxiirmg any secnrity beyond his word; which if she had 
insisted on, we should have been unable to make the purchase. 
But it was our Lord Who disposed everything for us. The 
walls of this house were so decayed, that we were obliged to 
hire another whilst they were being repaired, for there was 
much to be done.' 

The following is the account given by Ribera of the manner 
in which S. Teresa performed her journeys. 

She never, except in case of necessity, took with her any 
religious but those who desired to accompany her, and testi- 
fied in the most gracious manner her pleasure at their willing^ 
ness to do so. On the day of their departure the whole party 
communicated. 

In order to secure greater recollection, and to avoid inter- 
ruption fix)m strangers in the public vehicles, she travelled in 
a private carriage, which was often nothing better than a 
covered cart. During the journey the religious followed 
exactly the exercises of the community. A Httle bell marked 
the beginning and the end of each, their duration being 
measured by an hour-glass ; silence was kept at the appointed 
hours. The friars and priests, and even the drivers or other 
servants who might be of the party kept it also, and the Saint 
was accustomed to reward the latter for the unusual restraint 
by some addition to their meals, or a trifling sum of money. 
When she was herself obliged to break the silence, it was 
in few words, and with such sweetness and brightness of 
manner as cheered her companions under the weariness of the 
way. Recreation was held at the usual hour, and with the 
same holy cheerfulness as in the convent. When they left the 
carriage, the religious put down their veils, that they might 
not be seen, even by women. In the morning the Saint was 
the first to rise to awaken the rest, and the last to retire at 
night. The Httle colony was always accompanied by a priest, 
who heard their confessions, said Mass for them, and gave 
them Holy Communion. 

JuHan of Avila, or Gonzalez of Aranda, usually acted as 
their chaplain. Teresa never failed to take holy water with 
her, and generally an image of the infant Jesus, which she 
carried in her arms, and one of S. Joseph. Ihiring all her 

m2 



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164 Life of 8. Teresa. 

distractmg journeys she remained in a state of profound 
recollection. With her, the exercise of the presence of God 
was of a most special and exalted nature. She felt in the 
depths of her soul the presence of the Three Divine Persons, 
and remained continuaUy in their company. Thus she was 
never for a moment alone, and would never wiUingly have 
spoken to others or have been diverted for a moment from 
that sweet and divine^ converse. Yet when duty compelled 
her to speak, it was with a sweetness, brightness, and celes- 
tial grace which delighted all who heard her, and which, once 
heard, could never be forgotten. 

The Saint herself thus describes this wonderful grace. * The 
Three Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity manifest them- 
selves to this soul in such a manner, that she understands 
them all to be of one substance, one power, and one wisdom ; 
to be, in short, one God ; so that what we know in this world 
only by faith, that soul, one may say, knows by sight, not 
that she sees anything by her bodily eyes, nor even by her 
interior sight .... But the Three Adorable Persons com- 
municate themselves to that soul, speak to her, and make her 
to understand those words in the Gospel : If cmy man love Me, 
he will keep My coimncmdments ; and My Father will love hi/m, 
and We will come to hvm amd dwell m hvm. 

* my God, what a difference there is between these words 
striking upon our ear, or even believing them, and under- 
standing them in the manner which I have described ! Since 
that soul has received this favour, it seems to her that those 
Divine Persons have never quitted her ; she sees clearly that 
They are in the very inmost depth of her soul, as if in a deep 
abyss. Being an unlearned person she cannot say what that 
abyss may be ; but only that there she finds herself in that 
Divine Company. 

' It may seem to you, my daughters, that a soul in such a 
state must be so absorbed as to be unable to occupy herself in 
anything. You are mistaken ; she gives herself, with greater 
ease and fervour than before, to everything that is for the 
service of God ; and then, as soon as her occupations leave her 
at liberty, she Remains in that Blessed Company.' 

S. Teresa left Avila on August 13, 1567, having a great 



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Departure from Avila. 165 

desire to begin the fonndation at Medina on the Feast of our 
Blessed Mother's Assumption. She took with her Mary of S. 
J. Baptist (Mary of Ocampo), Agnes of Jesns, and Anne of the 
Incarnation (Agnes and Anne of Tapia). Before her departure 
she went to one of the little hermitages in the garden, on the 
wall of which she had caused to be painted a representation of 
our Lord fastened to the pillar, according to the vision which 
had so powerfully affected her heart when, five-and-twenty 
years before, that woefcd spectacle had aroused her from her 
state of torpidity. Prostrating herself before it, she implored 
Him so to watch over her children during her absence, that 
she might find no decay of fervour amongst them on her 
return. Our Lord was pleased in the fullest measure to grant 
her petition, and to bestow abundant graces upon the young 
religious whom she left to fill her place^ 

Mary of S. Jerome (in the world Mary of Avila) was a 
niece of S. Teresa ; another member of that remarkable 
family, in which both saintHness and strength of character 
seem to have been hereditary gifts. 

Her father had been commonly called DonAlonzo the Saint; 
her mother was also remarkable for her piety. Mary was early 
left an orphan ; and God, Who intended her to do great things 
for His service, bestowed on her with a lavish hand those 
external gifts which she was either to sacrifice or to considerate 
to Him. She had scarcely attained her nineteenth year when, 
after a sharp conflict with the grace which was calling her to 
religion, the beautiful and wealthy heiress, whose Castilian 
pride had rejected the noblest suitors in the City of Knights as 
unworthy to match with her, to the amazement of the good 
people of Avila, humbly sought admission into the poor 
Convent of S. Joseph's two years after its foundation, and 
received the habit of Mount Carmel from the hand of S. 
Teresa. 

* Mary of S. Jerome,' writes her holy kinswoman, 'is a fer- 
tile mine, daily yielding a treasure of virtues and good works.' 
Soon afber her profession, she was appointed Sub -prioress and 
mistress of novices ; and, having filled the place of S. Teresa 
during her absence at Medina del Campo, she was elected 
Prioress of S. Joseph's when, in consequence of her frequent 



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166 Life of 8. Teresa. 

journeys for the foundation of her various convents, the Saint 
resigned the superiority of that house. 

On their first day's journey from Avila, the Saint and her 
companions reached the town of Ar^valo late at night, where 
they met a priest who had provided a lodging for them in the 
house of some devout women. 

'He told me in private,' continues she, *that we could not 
have the house which had been hired for us, because it stood 
near the monastery of the Augustinians, and they greatly 
opposed our entrance there, and that therefore we should be 
forced to have a lawsuit about the matter. But, my God, 
when Thou art pleased to inspire us with courage, how 
powerless are all contradictions ! I was only the more 
animated and encouraged by the consideration that, as the 
devil began to raise disturbances and difficulties, it was a sign 
that our Lord would be served in this monastery. However, 
I desired our friend to say nothing, in order not to disturb my 
companions, especially the two nuns of the Incarnation ; as to 
the rest, I knew they would endure any trouble for my sake. 
One of the religious from the Incarnation was the Sub-prioress 
of that monastery, and both of them were of good families, 
and both had come with me against the wish of their rela- 
tions, who were greatly opposed to their departure, for all 
considered the undertaking very foolish, as judging according 
to human reason it certainly was.' 

Whilst S. Teresa was anxiously considering what was the 
next step to be taken in the perplexing state of her affairs, she 
received the welcome news that Father Dominic Bailez was at 
Ar^valo, and immediately applied to him for counsel and 
assistance. * What I was about to undertake,' says she, * seemed 
not to him so difficult as it did to others, for the more we know 
of God, the easier of accomplishment appear the works 
which we undertake for Him. It seemed the more possible to 
him, on account of certain favourswhich God had vouchsafed to 
me, and of what he had seen himself in the foundation of 
S. Joseph's. He gave me great consolation whenever I saw 
him, because by his advice I believed everything would sue* 
ceed well. As soon as he came to us, I told him very privately- 
all that had passed. His opinion was, that we might soon 



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Fowndrng in Haste, 167 

settle tlie affair of the Augustinians ; but to me all delay 
was a tedious matter, not knowing what to do with so many 
nuns ; and thus we all passed the night in trouble, for the 
affair was soon told to everyone in the house. 

* Early in the morning Father Antony de Heredia came to 
us, and told us that the house which he had agreed to pur- 
chase was habitable, and that it had a hall which we could 
convert into a little church, by adorning it with pieces of 
tapestry. This we resolved upon ; at least, I thought it would 
do very well, and that the more haste we made, so much the 
better it would be for us, considering we were out of our 
convent ; and as there was also some opposition to be feared 
(for I had learnt a lesson from the first foundation), I was 
very anxious to take possession before the matter became 
known. And to this Father Dominic Baiiez likewise con- 
sented. We arrived at Medina del Campo on the eve of the 
Assumption of our Lady, about midnight ; and to avoid all dis- 
turbance we alighted at the monastery of S. Anne, and thence 
we went on foot to our house. It was a great mercy of God, 
that at such an hour we met no one, though it was the time 
when the bulls were brought into Medina for a bull-fight on 
the following day. I thought of nothing, on account of the 
terror and amazement we were in. But our Lord, who takes 
care of those who desire to please Him, preserved us ; for we 
truly had no other object in view but His glory in this matter. 
Having come to the house we entered into a court, the walls 
of which seemed much decayed, as I saw more plainly after- 
wards, when it was daylight. It seems to me, that our Lord 
was pleased this good father should be so bHnd, as not to per- 
ceive there was no proper place there for the Most Blessed 
Sacrament. When I saw the hall, I perceived that there was 
much rubbish to be removed, and that the walls were not 
plaistered: the night was far advanced, and we had only 
brought a few hangings (three, I think), which were nothing 
for the whole length of the hall. 

' I knew not what was to be done, for I saw there was no 
proper place for erecting the altar. Our Lord was, however, 
pleased that the house should be founded immediately, for the 
steward of the lady had in the house several pieces of tapestry 



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168 Life of S. Teresa. 

which belonged to her, and also a piece of blue damask, and 
she had told him to give ns whatever we wanted, which was 
very kind of her. When I saw such good famiture, I praised 
our Lord, and so also did the other nuns. But we knew not 
what to do for nails, and that was not the time to buy them ; 
we began, however, to search for some on the walls, and at 
length with difficulty we procured abundance ; and then some 
of the men began putting up the tapestry, whilst we swept 
the floor ; and we made such great haste, that by break of 
day the altar was ready, a bell was put up, and immediately 
Mass was said. This was sufficient for taking possession ; 
but we did not rest contented till we had the Most Blessed 
Sacrament placed in the tabernacle. We heard Mass through 
the chinks of a door that was opposite the altar, having no 
other place. With this I was quite content, because to me it 
was the greatest joy and comfort to behold one more church 
in which the Most Blessed Sacrament was adored. But my 
joy lasted only a little while ; for when Mass was over, I 
chanced to look out into the court from a window, and saw 
all the wall in many places quite in ruins, to repair which 
would require the work of many days. my God ! when I 
beheld Thy Divine Majesty exposed in the streets, in so dan- 
gerous times as we now live in, on account of these Lutherans, 
what sorrow and dismay seized upon my heart ! And then 
came before me all the difficulties raised by those who had so 
greatly opposed me ; and I saw clearly they had much reason 
in doing so. It now seemed to me impossible to go on with 
what I had began, for, as formerly, all things appeared to me 
so easy, seeing they were done for God, so now the temptation 
had such power, that I thought I never had received any 
favour from Him : my own weakness and baseness were alone 
present to me. Relying, therefore, on so miserable a support, 
what good success, thought I, could I hope for ? Had I been 
alone, I think I coxQd have borne up better ; but the thought 
of my companions turning back again to their house, after all 
the opposition they had met with when th«y left it, seemed to 
me very hard. I also imagined, that having thus erred in the 
first of the new foundations, I had no right to expect our 
Lord to do anything for those which should follow ; and a 



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Fears vyrestled with alone. 169 

fear came on me immediately, lest what I had heard in prayer 
had been a delusion ; and this was a still greater source of 
trouble and uneasiness, because I began to be extremely fear- 
ftd lest the devil had deceived me. 

' my Grod ! ' she continues, as she reviews this terrible 
conflict, ' what a grievous spectacle is the soul, which Thou 
art pleased to leave in such pain ! Truly when I remember 
this and other afflictions which I suffered during these 
foundations, it appears to me that no account is to be made 
of bodily pains, though I have endured some which were very 
severe.' 

Yet the brave heart bore on alone. ' I did not reveal my 
trouble to my companions, because I did not wish to add to 
the afflictions which they had already endured. In this an- 
guish I passed a great part of the evening, till the Rector of 
the Society sent a father to visit me, and he animated and 
consoled me exceedingly. I did not tell him aU my sorrows, 
but only that which I felt at finding ourselves in the street. 
I began to speak to him about hiring a house for us (cost 
what it might), wherein we might dwell till the other was 
repaired. I now began to take courage on beholding so many 
people coming to the church, and no one accused us of foUy, 
which was a mercy of God ; for had they reflected on our 
situation, they would have done quite right to take away the 
Most Blessed Sacrament from us. I wonder now that no one 
thought of doing this, and also at my own stupidity, in think- 
ing that if that were done, all would be undone. 

' In spite of all the diligence used in seeking a house, none 
could be found to let in the whole town ; therefore I was in 
great trouble night and day, because though I had appointed 
men to watch and guard the Most Blessed Sacrament, yet I 
was fearful lest they might fall asleep ; and so I arose in the 
night myself to watch It from a window, whence by the clear 
light of the moon I could see It very plainly. During all 
these days great multitudes came to the church ; and, far 
from blaming us, their devotion increased the more, to see 
our Lord again in a stable ; and His Majesty (who is never 
weary of humbling Himself for our sake) appeared unwilling 
to remove from thence. 



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170 Life of S. Teresa. 

' About a week afterwards, a merchant who lived in a very 
good house, seeing our necessity, told us we might have the 
upper part of it, where we could dwell as in a house of our 
own. 

* He had also a very large hall, with a gilded roof, and this 
he gave us for a church, and a lady who lived near the house 
we had bought, whose name was DoHa Helen de Quiroga, a 
great servant of God, told us that she would help us, that so 
a chapel might be immediately prepared, in which the Most 
Blessed Sacrament might be placed ; and likewise, that she 
would so accommodate us, that we should live in enclosure. 
Other persons also liberally contributed to our support, but 
no one so bountiftdly as this lady. 

* And now I began to feel more quiet and at rest, being able 
to keep perfect enclosure ; so we began to recite our office. 

* The good Prior took great pains in fitting up the house, and 
made all possible haste ; but with all his labour it cost him 
two months to accomplish it. He repaired it so thoroughly, 
that the religious were able to Hve there with tolerable con- 
venience for several years ; and since that time our Lord has 
enabled us still farther to improve it.' 

The Carmelites at Medina, like those at Avila, soon lived 
down the opposition which had arisen against them at their 
first arrival. 

* The nuns,' says S. Teresa, * continued to gain credit with 
the people, who were greatly delighted with them, and I think 
with reason, because all had but one object, which was, how 
each could best serve our Lord. In every respect, they 
observed the same rules that are kept in the Convent of S. 
Joseph's at Avila ; the constitutions are also the same. Our 
Lord began to call some sisters to take the habit ; and the 
favours He granted them were so great, that I was astonished 
thereat. May He be for ever blessed. Amen, for He seeks 
only to be loved that so He may grant us His love.' 

Amongst the chosen souls called by our Divine Lord to fill 
the cloister of Medina del Campo, was Geronima, the beloved 
child of the holy widow, Helen de Quiroga, who had so 
zealously aided the foundation. Geronima had not fdUy com- 
pleted her fourteenth year when she received the habit of 



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Sanctity of her first Daughters. 171 

Motiiit Carmel. Helen de Qniroga, who ever affcer the founda- 
tion of the convent at Medina, was honoured with the inti- 
mate fiiendship of S. Teresa, after a Hfe of extraordinary 
sanctity in the world, having fiilfilled her duties in the educa- 
tion of her remaining children, obtained the long desire of 
her heart, and was admitted into the Order of her friend and 
her child in 1581, only one year before the death of the 
former. 

After the foregoing narrative of her second foundation, S. 
Teresa pauses to dwell with overflowing thankfulness on the 
interior sanctity which adorned and consecrated the exterior 
building. 

' As now these little dove-cots of the Blessed Virgin our 
Lady began to fill, so His Divine Majesty began also to show 
lEHis greatness in these poor, weak women, so strong in good 
desires and in disengagement from creatures ; for this it is 
which, being joined with purity of conscience, unites the soul 
most closely with its' Creator. 

* I need not, indeed, have mentioned purity of conscience, 
for if the disengagement be real and sincere, it seems to me 
to imply a careful endeavour never to offend God. And as all 
the discourses and meditations of these his faithful spouses 
relate to Him, so does His Majesty appear unwilling ever to 
depart from them. This is what I now see, and can affirm 
with truth. Let those fear who shall come after us and read 
these words ; and if they see not what we now see, let them 
not ascribe it to the times, for at all times God is ever ready 
to bestow favours upon those who serve Him in earnest, and 
endeavour to discover and correct whatever imperfections may 
remain in them. 

' The favours which our Lord bestows in these houses are 
very great, for there are few amongst our sisters whom He 
conducts by the way of ordinary meditation, the rest are 
raised to perfect contemplation, whilst some have been favoured 
with raptures ; on others our Lord bestows graces of various 
kinds, such as revelations and visions, which evidently come 
from Him. There is now not one of our houses in which we 
may not find one or two, or even three of these favoured 
souls. 



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172 Life of 8. Teresa. 

*I am well aware,' adds tlie Saint of Common Sense, 'that 
sanctity does not consist in all these things, neither is it my 
intention to praise these nuns, but to show how necessary and 
applicable are the remarks which I am about to make.' 

And here follow some of those wonderfiil instructions on 
the true nature of prayer and of interior perfection, in which 
S. Teresa gives us a fuller knowledge of herself than can be 
gained from any narrative of her exterior life. 

* I have met with some,' she says, ' who seem to imagine 
that the essential point in prayer is the exercise of the under- 
standing, and if they can keep their mind fixed on God, though 
by using great violence to themselves, they immediately con- 
sider themselves to be very spiritual persons, and if they ex- 
perience involuntary distractions, or are obliged to turn their 
mind to anything else, even to things good and meritorious, 
they inmiediately become greatly afflicted, and fancy they are 
doing nothing. 

' But the true proficiency of the soul consists, not in much 
thinking, but in much loving. And if you ask me how this 
love must be acquired, I answer, by resolving to do the Divine 
Will, and to suffer for God, and by so doing, and so suffering, 
when occasions for action and for suffering arise. 

' Oh, how does divine charity press the heart of those who 
truly love the Lord, and know the desires of His heart ! How 
little rest do they take if they can be of any use in advancing 
the welfare of a soul, and increasing her love of God ; or if 
they can give her any comfort, or free her from any danger ! 
How little do such souls look to their own interest or their 
own ease ! And when they can do no good by their works, 
they endeavour to do something by their prayers, importuning 
our Lord in behalf of those numerous souls whom they grieve 
to see in danger of eternal destruction ; and thus bewailing 
their lot, they sacrifice their own repose and pay no regard to 
their own happiness, considering only how they may best 
accomplish the will of God. And thus it is with obedience : 
it would be a strange thing if, when God clearly tells us to 
do something for Him, we should choose rather to stand 
gazing upon Him, because we could thus please ourselves 
most ! This would indeed be a strange way of advancing in 



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Obedience is Peace. 173 

the love of God ; to bind His hands, and compel Him to lead 
us onward in a way of onr own choosing ! 

' O Lord, how far are Thy ways above our thoughts ! And 
what dost Thou require of a soul, which is already determined 
to love Thee, and give herself entirely into Thy hands, but 
that she should be obedient, that she should enquire in all 
things what most tends to Thy glory, and ardently desire to 
execute it ? She has no need to seek out new paths, or to 
choose between them, for her will is now Thy will. Thou, 
my Lord, takest upon Thyself the care of leading her 
in the path wherein she shall make the greatest progress. 
And though the superior may not take the trouble of guiding 
her in the way most advantageous to her, but may employ 
her only in those duties which he thinks will tend most to 
the good of the community, yet, Thou, O my God, dost con- 
duct her, disposing her and all her employments in such a 
manner, that (without understanding how) she finds herself 
making great spiritual progress, obeying with such fidelity 
every command of her superiors, as is matter of astonishment 
even to herself. Such a soul was a rehgious, with whom I 
spoke a few days ago, who by obedience had for fifteen years 
been so engaged in his duties and offices, that during all this 
period he did not remember to have had one day for himself. 
All that he could do, was to steal some spare time in the day 
to devote to prayer, and to attend careftdly to the purifying 
of his conscience. This was the most obedient soul I ever 
knew, and he even imprints this virtue on all with whom he 
converses. Our Lord has Uberally rewarded him, for (with- 
out his knowing how) he enjoys that precious liberty of soul 
which the perfect possess, and in which consists all the happi- 
ness that can be hoped for in this life ; for, desiring nothing, 
he possesses all things. Such souls neither fear, nor covet 
anything on earth ; afflictions do not disturb them, neither 
does pleasure elate them ; nothing, in short, can rob them of 
their peace, because nothing can deprive them of Gt)d, on 
whom alone it depends ; the fear of losing Him is the only 
thing which could disturb them. Everything else in this 
world is in their eyes as if it were not, because it neither 
gives nor takes away their joy. blessed obedience ! blessed 



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174 Life of S. Teresa. 

even in the distractions which it imposes, since the soul is 
thereby raised to so high a degree of perfection ! 

* Courage, then, my daughters, let there be no sadness: 
when obedience calls you to exterior employments (as, for 
example, into the kitchen, amidst the pots and dishes), re- 
member that our Lord goes along with you, to help you both 
in your interior and exterior duties. I remember a rehgious 
once told me, that he had determined within himself always 
to do whatever his superiors should command him, no matter 
what trouble it might give him. One evening, being quite 
spent with labour, and not able to stand on his legs, he wished 
to rest himself. No sooner had he sat down, than his superior 
came and found him, and bade him take a spade, and go dig in 
the garden. The good man said nothing, though so completely 
exhausted : he took his spade, and as he was going into the 
garden by a certain passage (which I saw many years after 
this was related to me, when I founded a houBe in that very 
town), our Lord appeared to him with His cross on Hia 
shoulders, and so faint and weary as to make him understand 
that what he then suffered was nothing in comparison with 
what his Saviour had endured. 

* I beHeve that it is because the devil knows well there is no 
path which leads us sooner to the highest perfection than 
that of obedience, that he raises so many difficulties trnder the 
semblance of good to disgust us with it. Let this truth be 
well understood, and men will clearly see that the highest 
perfection does not consist in interior joys, nor in sublime 
raptures, nor in visions, nor in having the gift of prophecy, 
but in bringing our will into such conformity with the Will 
of Gk)d, that whatever we know He desires, that also shall we 
desire with our whole affection ; receiving what is bitter as 
joyfully as what is sweet and pleasant, if only it be according 
to the Will of His Divine Majesty. 

' I particularly wish it to be understood that the reason 
why obedience (in my opinion) is so speedy, and so sure a 
means of arriving at this happy state is, that in order so to 
master our own will as to be able to devote it wholly and 
sincerely to God, it must be subject to reason, and obedience 
is the shortest and most efficacious means of bringing it into 



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The Nature cmd Means of true Union with God. 175 

this subjection. To attempt to effect this by argmnents is 
never to come to a conclusion, and is a dangerous method 
withal: for nature and self-love will always have so many 
good reasons on the other side that we should never come to 
a conclusion, for that which our reason sees to be best, often 
appears to us foolish, because we have no mind to do it. 

' Our Lord so values this submission ' to superiors for Bis 
sake, that by exercising ourselves therein, and disengaging 
ourselves from self-love, we come, though painfully at first, 
to conform* our will to the will of those who command us, by 
the help of our Lord, Who, because we subject our will and 
reason to others for EQs sake, gives us the mastery of our 
own will, which we are then enabled with perfect freedom to 
offer wholly to God, that He may unite it with EQs own, and 
that the fire of His love may descend from heaven and con- 
sume the sacrifice ; we on our own part avoiding all that may 
be displeasing in His sight. 

' All we have to do is thus to lay our will upon the altar, not 
suffering it, as far as in us lies, to be defiled by anything of 
earth. 

* This,* continues the Saint, * is the union which I desire to 
see in you all, and not certain raptures, however sweet they 
may be, to which the name of union is given, and which 
indeed will often be granted, over and above, to those who 
possess the true union of which I have been speaking. But 
if these raptures leave us averse to obedience, and attached to 
our own will, they will in my opinion have united us to our 
own self-love, rather than to the will of God. 

*One day spent in humility and self-knowledge, though 
at the cost of many afflictions and labours, I account to be 
a greater favour from our Lord than many days spent in 
prayer : the rather, that a true lover loves everywhere, and at 
all times thinks of his beloved. And here we must be upon 
our guard, that we may never neglect, in the performance of 
those external duties, which are imposed by obedience and 
charity, frequently to think of God and of our interior sancti- 
fication. And believe me, our spiritual progress does not 
depend upon the length of time which we spend in prayer ; 
for when we fulfil with great perfection those duties to which 



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176 Life of S. Teresa. 

we are called by charity and obedience, we often advance more 
in the love of God in a few moments thus employed, than in 
many long hours of consideration. 

* All must come from His hand, may He be blessed for ever 
and ever ! ' 

Thus was- founded and built up in sanctity the second 
convent of the reform, which, like its predecessor at Avila, and 
most of the subsequent foundations of S. Teresa, was placed 
under the invocation of S. Joseph. When the Saint received 
from our Lord a command to write the history of her founda- 
tions, she would have omitted that of Medina del Campo, as 
containing nothing remarkable, when He enquired of her by 
an interior voice : * Seemeth it not to thee to have been full of 
miracles ? ' 

The providential guidance which had led her to Medina, 
paved the way* also for the execution of her great project of 
the foundation of a house of reformed friars. 

She unfolded her plan confidentially to the good Prior 
Heredia, who had exerted himself so strenuously in behalf of 
the new foundation, in the hope of obtaining help from his 
prudence and long experience of the rehgious life which he had 
entered at the age of ten years, and enquired of him whether 
he knew of any, either in the Order or among the secular 
clergy, who would be able and willing to make trial of such 
a life. To her utter amazement, the venerable Prior, notwith- 
standing his sixiy years, his long superiority, his deHcate 
health, and his profession for half a century of the mitigated 
rule, at once offered himself as the first of her disciples. 

She thought he was jesting, and told him so ; ' because, 
though he was always a good religious, recollected and 
studious, and a lover of his cell, yet I did not think he was a 
fit person to begin such an undertaking, or that he had suf- 
ficient strength and spirit to bear the rigour and severiiy 
requisite for such a life, for he was very dehcate, and not 
accustomed to any austerities. But he assured me it was 
otherwise with him, and he certified to me that some time ago 
our Lord had called him to a stricter life, and also that he had 
determined to become a Carthusian, and that the fathers had 
told him they would receive him. With all this, however, I 



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Vocation of S. John of the Cross. 177 

was not quite satisfied, thongli I was glad to hear it ; and I 
entreated him to wait some time and exercise himself in those 
things which he would have to perform under a vow. He did 
so for a year, and during this period he met with so many 
troubles and false accusations as made it appear that our Lord 
wished to try him. And he bore all so weU, and advanced so 
much in perfection, that I praised our Lord for it, because I 
thought He was thus disposing him for this undertaking.' 

Besides the persecutions which served to brace the strength 
and courage of this veteran soldier of Christ, he exercised 
himself in various corporal austerities, in preparation for the 
life to which he desired to devote himself, wearing a coarse 
wooUen tunic in the greatest heat of summer, and spending 
many hours in prayer, wherein he was favoured with singular 
graces from our Lord. 

Still the mind of S. Teresa was not entirely at rest. ' I 
was not,' she says, *fiilly satisfied with the Prior.' She con- 
tinued to pour forth fervent prayers to our Lord that He 
would be pleased to raise up fitting instruments for the work 
which He had inspired her to undertake, and not long after 
the conversation above recorded with the Prior of S. Anne's, 
another religious of the same Order brought with him as his 
companion, when he came to visit her, a young friar lately 
raised to the priesthood, named John of Matthias, known 
affcerwards in Carmel by the name of Blessed John of the 
Cross, a name to which the Church has added the title of 
Saint. He was the son of poor but pious parents ; his mother, 
a saintly woman, who became afterwards the intimate friend 
of S. Teresa, was now a widow, and residing at Medina, where 
her son had been trained in the college of the Jesuit Fathers. 
Having distinguished himself there by his proficiency in 
literature, rhetoric, and philosophy, John de Yepez conse- 
crated himself to God, at the age of one and twenty, in the 
presence of his happy mother, in the Order of Mount Carmel. 
He had lately returned from finishing his theological studies 
at Salamanca when he first became acquainted with S. Teresa, 
who felt no distrust of this second postulant sent to her by 
Divine Providence. She seemed at once to recognise a spirit 
in unison with her own. * I gave thanks,' she says, 'to our 

N 



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178 Life of 8. Teresa. 

Lord.' She waited, however, for the young religions to give 
her an opening to speak upon the subject so near her heart ; 
and when he had laid before her his desire to lead a life of 
greater solitude, and his conviction that God was calling him 
to a state of higher perfection, which he hoped to attain in 
the Carthusian Order : ' My son,' she said, with the authority 
and tenderness of a mother, ' have patience, and go not to the 
Carthusians, for we are about to open a reformed house of our 
own Order, in which you will be able to satisfy all your 
desires of retirement, recollection, penance and prayer, and 
will do great service to Ood and to His Blessed Mother.' She 
then represented to him how much better he would be able to 
serve our Lord, and how much greater good he would be able 
to eflfect by promoting a reform of his own Order, than by for- 
saking it for another. 

While Teresa spoke, our Lord brought vividly to the recol- 
lection of the young friar words which he had heard whilst 
yet a secxQar, and in uncertainty as to whither the will of 
Grod was calling him, * Thou shaJt serve Me in an Order, the 
ancient perfection of which thou shalt aid Me to restore.' He 
at once promised to assist Teresa in her undertaking, and to 
lay aside every other purpose, on one only condition, that 
there should be no unnecessary delay in the commencement of 
the work. Teresa was now quite ready to begin it, being pro- 
vided, as she playfolly said, with ' a friar and a half,' allud- 
ing to the lofty stature and noble presence of the Prior, and the 
insignificant and meagre aspect of S. John of the Cross, 
whom, with reference to his wisdom of speech, she was accus- 
tomed also to call her ' little Seneca.' A considerable time, 
however, still intervened before the work was begun, either 
from the difficulty of finding a house, or because the prudent 
foundress was in no haste to seek for one, being desirous of a 
longer time to test the strength and endurance of Father 
Antony. She therefore begged her new associates to remain 
at Medina, preparing themselves for their work by earnest 
prayer, until God should provide them with a suitable dwell- 
ing. Li the meantime she turned her attention to the founda- 
tion of two other convents of nuns. 



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Oift of a House at Vailadolid. 179 



CHAPTER XIV. 
1567. 

GIPT OP A HOrSE AT VALLA DOLID— TERESA VISITS MADRID 
ON HER WAY TO THE CONVENT POUNDED BY MARY OF JESIT8 
AT ALCALA — SHE INSTRUCTS THE RELIGIOUS OP THAT HOUSE 
IN THE TRUE WAY OP PERPEOTION, AND GIVES THEM THE 
CONSTITUTIONS OP HER REPORM — ^FOUNDATION AT MALAGON — 
SHE ACCEPTS THE GIPT OP A POOR COTTAGE AT DURVELO POR 
THE PIRST HOUSE OP DISCALCED PRIARS — FOUNDATION AT VAL- 
LADOUD — ^DELIVERANCE OP THE SOUL OF DON BERNARDIN DE 
MENDOZA PROM PURGATORY — ^EXTRAORDINARY PERFECTION OP 
THE FIRST RELIGIOUS OP VALLADOLID. 

The next application whicli Teresa received for a new founda- 
tion was from one who seemed little likely to ii^terest himself 
in the formation of convents for contemplation. Don Ber- 
nardin of Mendoza, brother of the Bishop of Avila, was a 
young and gallant gentleman, whose life bore upon its surface 
few marks of predestination, except a tender and chivalrous 
devotion to the Blessed Mother of God. 

Some business having brought him to Medina, he went to 
visit the Mother Teresa, whom he held in high esteem, not only 
from the public report of her sanctity, but from the especial 
respect and affection borne to her by the Bishop, his brother. 
Don Bemardin urgently pressed her to make a foundation as 
soon as possible near the fine and populous city of YalladoHd in 
Old Castile. ' He told me,' she says, ' that he would willingly 
give me a house which belonged to him near Vailadolid, having 
a large vineyard and magnificent gardens attached to it, and 
that he would put me in immediate possession, if I woxQd 
make the foundation at once. To say the truth, I was not 
very willing to establish a convent at the distance of three 
quarters of a mile from the city. But the offer was made 

»2 



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180 • Life of S. Teresa. 

with so good a will, and to so good an end, that I was un- 
willing to refiise it, or to deprive this young gentleman of the 
merit which he might derive from his generosity. Besides, I 
considered that it woxQd be easy afterwards to exchange this 
house for one in VaUadolid. Therefore I gratefully accepted 
the offer.' 

Don Bemardin, for a reason which the Saint afterwards 
understood, continued to urge the immediate foundation of 
the house, a desire which she was unable to gratify, as two 
other persons, whom she considered to have a superior claim, 
were at the same time calling her elsewhere. 

The first of these was her old friend Doila Louisa de la 
Cerda, who now earnestly begged her to found a convent on 
one of her estates, at a place called Malagon. The other who 
asked her aid was Dona Eleanora Mascarefla, formerly gover- 
ness to Don Carlos, the son of Philip II. This lady begged 
her to come to Alcala de Henarez, a city of New Castile, in 
order to instruct in religious observance the inmates of the 
convent, which had been erected there four years before by 
the venerable Mary of Jesus, whose intercourse with Teresa 
at Toledo has been already mentioned. This blessed woman 
was endowed with many excellent gifts. She was humble, 
penitent, fervent in prayer, and so keenly alive to the beauty 
of evangelical poverty, that our Lord had chosen her as His 
instrument to excite our Saint to found her houses without 
revenues. But it had not pleased Him to bestow upon her 
the quahties necessary for carrying out her own idea. She 
had been compelled to consent to the endowment of the con- 
vent which she had founded about a year after that of S. 
Joseph's at Avila, and she introduced into it a rigid and 
extraordinary way of life, which not being tempered by the 
necessary sweetness and prudence, caused many of her subjects 
to lose their health, and made all very clearly perceive that it 
would be impossible long to persevere in the course which had 
been begun. They determined, therefore, to have recourse to 
the known prudence and wisdom of the Mother Teresa ; and 
at their desire. Dona Eleanora, at whose expense their convent 
hsui been founded, conveyed to the Saint their request that 
she should visit them. 



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Vidit to Madrid. 181 

Teresa agreed to meet DofSa Eleanora at Madrid, and then 
to visit Alcala on lier way to Malagon. She had no sooner 
arrived at the Mascarena palace, accompanied by two religious 
from Avila, than the news of her presence spread through 
the city, and a bevy of ladies of Madrid assembled to gaze at 
her, some out of devotion, many out of mere curiosity. Not a 
few expected her to work a miracle before them, or hoped at 
least to see her in an ecstasy. So they gathered round her } 
one to ask the solution of a question of conscience, another to 
hear a prediction of the fiiture. Earnestly as Teresa wished 
herself at home again, she managed with her usual address to 
elude the attacks of the fine ladies. Having replied with her 
wonted gentle courtesy to their greetings, and those of her 
noble hostess, she began to talk of the hecmty of the streets of 
Madrid, and other such common-place subjects, keeping the 
conversation so entirely in her own hands, that the poor 
ladies found it utterly impossible to introduce one of the 
weighty subjects which they had come prepared to discuss. 
Great was their mortification and confasion ; most of them 
went away saying that the Mother Teresa was doubtless a good 
religious^ hut certamly no Saint, A few of greater discernment, 
saw through the artifice by which she had contrived to shroud 
her sanctity under the veil of her humihty. Of the same 
opinion as these last were the discalced nuns of S. Clare, with 
whom S. Teresa spent a fortnight during her stay at Madrid, 
at the earnest desire of their foundress, Dofia Jane, sister of 
King Philip 11. That princess, the religious, and especially 
the Abbess of the convent, who was a kinswoman of S. Francis 
Borgia, were filled with admiration at the marvellous sim- 
plicity of their saintly guest. * Blessed be God,' said one of 
them, ' who has consoled us by the sight of a Saint whom we 
may all imitate ; she eats, sleeps, and speaks as we do, and 
converses with us without that reserve affected by some who 
pretend to spirituality. Her spirit is certainly the spirit of 
the Lord, for she is simple and sincere, and lives amongst us 
as He lived amongst men.' 

S. Teresa left Madrid with her two companions in theNovem- 
ber of 1667 for Alcala, accompanied by DoHa Maria of Mendoza, 
sister of Don Bemardin, who made her travel in her carriage. 



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182 Life of S. Teresa. 

She was received by the religious of Alcala as a messenger 
from Heaven. They consigned to her the keys of the convent, 
and presented themselves to her as her loving and obedient 
children. The venerable foundress surpassed them all in 
humility and submission ; thus proving that, in whatever 
degree she might be wanting in some of the qualities requisite 
in a superioress, she was amply endowed with the essential 
graces of the religious life. S. Teresa spared no labour in 
forming these fervent souls to the true perfection of their 
state. She gave them the constitutions which had been 
drawn up for the use of S. Joseph's at Avila; and then 
having completed her charitable work at Alcala, proceeded to 
the foundation of her third convent at Malagon. 

DoBa Louisa de la Cerda had provided a house and a suffi- 
cient maintenance for the religious of the new foundation. 
Teresa was very unwilling to depart from her purpose of 
founding in absolute poverty, but was convinced by the 
reasons of Dona Louisa, and of her confessor, Father Ba&ez, 
of the necessity of such a provision in a country place like 
Malagon, where the surrounding peasants would be incapable 
of supporting the nuns by their alms. The holy mother lefb 
Alcala for Toledo just before the Lent of 1568. There she 
made the necessary arrangements for the foundation with 
Dona Louisa, and sent for four of her daughters from Avila, 
who, with her two companions, completed the number of six. 
They accompanied Do&a Louisa to Malagon, which they 
reached about ten days before Palm Sunday, and were lodged 
in her castle. Until the convent should be built they were 
to inhabit a house in the market-place, whither they were to 
remove on Palm Sunday. Li the meantime, Teresa, accom- 
panied by one of her sisters, the mayor, and the parish priest, 
went out to choose a site for the convent. They soon came 
to a place which seemed very suitable for the purpose. ' No,' 
said the Saint, 'we must leave this site for the discalced 
Fathers of S. Francis, who are to make a foundation here.' 
These words were verified a few years afterwards, to the no 
small amazement of those who remembered the prophecy. A 
little way out of the village they came to an oHve garden. 
* We will go no farther,' said Teresa, * for God has chosen this 



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, Death of Don Bemardin. 183 

as the site of our convent.' *0n Pabn Sunday,' says the 
Saint, *all the people of the place came ont in procession, 
and, putting on our veils and white mantles, we came to the 
church, whence the Most Blessed Sacrament was taken to our 
monastery. This excited great devotion in the people.' 

Thus was founded the third monastery of discalced Carme- 
lites, which bore, hke the first two, the name of the glorious 
Patriarch S. Joseph. 

S. Teresa remained there about two months, forming the 
new community to every practice of perfection. She tells us, 
that one day after Communion our Lord said to her that He 
should he greatly served m that house. The chronicles of the 
Order record the extraordinary life of penance and austerity 
of these holy religious, who seemed anxious thus to make up for 
the ab'sence of that perfection of poverty which had charac- 
terised the former foundations of the reform. 

S. Teresa was now pressed to open a house at Toledo, but she 
postponed doing so for a time. ' My spirit,' said she, ' hurried 
me to go and found a house in VaUadoUd.' She was impelled 
to this haste by the tidings of the unexpected death of Don 
Bemardin of Mendoza. ' He fell so suddenly ill,' writes the 
Saint, * that he was deprived of the use of his speech, and was 
unable therefore to make his confession, although he gave many 
proofs of contrition for his sins : he died in a very short time, 
at a great distance from the place where I then was. Our 
Lord told me that his salvation had been in great danger, that 
He had had mercy on him on account of the service rendered 
to His Blessed Mother, in giving that house to found a 
monastery of her Order ; but that he would not be delivered 
from Purgatory until the first Mass should be said there. 
The grievous sufferings of this soul were so continually pre- 
sent to me, that though I wished to found a house in Toledo, 
I would not begin for the present, but hurried on to the 
utmost of my power the foundation in ValladoHd.' 

Some delay was, however, unavoidable, for the Saint was 
obliged to stop for some days on her way at S. Joseph's at Avila, 
and afterwards at S. Joseph's at Medina del Oampo. During 
these few days which she spent at Avila an opening at last pre- 
sented itself for the foundation of a house of discalced friars. 



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184 Ufe of S. Teresa. 

' A yoTing gentleman of Avila,' says the Saint, * named Don 
Raphael Mexia, with whom I had never before spoken, came 
to hear (I know not how) that I wished to fonnd a monastery 
of discalced fidars, and therefore he came and offered to 
give me a honse which he possessed in a Uttle village called 
Durvelo. There were few houses in the place; not above 
twenty, if I remember rightly ; this house was inhabited by a 
farmer, who collected his rents. Though I judged what kind 
of a dwelling it must be, I praised our Lord, and, accepting the 
offer, thanked the gentleman much. He told me it was on the 
way to Medina del Campo, and that I must pass by it to go 
to YalladoHd, so that I might then see the place. I answered 
that I would do so, and kept my word. I left Avila in the 
month of June, with only one companion ( Antonia of the Holy 
Ghost), and JuKan of Avila, the chaplain of S. Joseph's, the 
priest who assisted me in these journeys. Though we set off 
at daybreak, yet not knowing the road we missed our way, 
and, as the place was not much known, no one could direct 
us ; and thus we walked on all that day in great trouble, for 
the sun was very hot, and when we thought we were near the 
place we had as far again to travel. I shall always remember 
the fatigue and wandering of that day. We arrived there a 
little before night, and when we entered the house it was in 
such a state that we dared not remain there during the night, 
because the place was so exceedingly dirty, and there were 
also many reapers about. It had a tolerable hall, one chamber, 
with a garret, and a little kitchen : this buildiag was all that 
was to compose our convent. I thought that the haU might 
be converted into a chapel, that the garret would do very 
well for a choir, and the chamber for a dormitory. My com- 
panion, though much better than myself and a great lover of 
penance, could not endure the idea of establishing a convent 
there, and therefore she said to me, " Certainly, Mother, no 
soul, however fervent, could endure such a place ; speak no 
more about it." Father Julian, though at first of the same 
opinion, when I told him my intentions did not oppose me. 
We passed the night in the church, though, on account of our 
great fatigue, we stood more in need of sleeping than watch- 
ing. When we arrived at Medina, I immediately spoke with 



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Our Lord bide her hasten to VcUladolid. 185 

E. Antonio, and described to him exactly the place which we 
had seen, asking him if he had courage to remain there for a 
time. I told him he might be sure that God would soon pro- 
vide something better, if only we would begin. I spoke thus 
positively, because I seemed to have present before me what 
our Lord has since done, and to have no more doubt of it 
than now I see it before my eyes. I told him also, that he 
might be assured that neither the former nor the present 
Provincial would give us a license if they were to see us in 
a very fine house, even if we could procure one; whereas, 
living in such a small house, and in such an obscure village, 
no notice would be taken of us. Our Lord had given greater 
courage to him than to me, for he said, he was " wiUing to 
dwell not only there, but even in a pig-sty.*' F. John of the 
Cross was of the same mind. And now we wanted only the 
consent of the two Fathers Provincial, which our Father- 
Creneral had made a condition of granting the Hcense. I 
hoped in our Lord to be able to obtain it, and therefore I 
spoke to Father Antonio to take care to collect all he could 
for the house, and then departed with P. John of the Cross 
for the foundation of ValladoHd.' 

Some necessary arrangements detained S. Teresa at Medina 
on her way. Full of charity as was her heart for the suffer- 
ing soul which was thirsting for the first Mass at Valladolid, 
there was another Heart yearning over it with a love in- 
finitely exceeding that of any creature, however saintly; 
another Eye, which neither the reformation of an Order, nor 
the care of the whole creation of God, could avert for a 
moment from that one point in the universe whence ffis 
banished one was stretching out his hands to Him. ' Make 
haste,' said the voice of the Good Shepherd, as Teresa knelt 
before EEis Tabernacle at Medina, ^ for that soul is suffering 
exceedingly.' 

* When I heard these words,' she says, * I began my journey 
immediately, though without any preparation, and entered 
Valladolid on the Feast of S. Laurence. When I saw the 
house,*'Iwas exceedingly afflicted, because I perceived it would 
be madness for the nuns to remain there. It could not be 
rendered habitable without very great expense; and also. 



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186 Life of S. Teresa. 

althougli there was mucli room for recreation in the beantiM 
garden, it conld not fail to be very unhealthy, because a river 
ran close by it. Though exceedingly wearied with our 
journey, we wished to hear Mass in a monastery of our Order, 
at the entrance of the city, which, as it was at a considerable 
distance, increased our fatigue. I did not, however, say any- 
thing to my companions, lest I should discourage them, for I 
had a belief, in the midst of my weakness, that our Lord 
would in some way provide for the accomplishment of what 
He had told me. Accordingly, I privately employed workmen 
to make partitions by means of which we might be able to 
observe enclosure, and so all that was of absolute necessity 
was accomplished.' 

S. Teresa employed the time which elapsed before the en- 
closure could be effected in instructing the young Mar, who 
was to be the foundation stone of the reform amongst his 
brethren, in the manner of life led by herself and her 
daughters. 

'He' (S. John of the Cross), she says, 'wished to be in- 
formed concerning our mortifications, the nature of our con- 
versation, and of the recreations which we have all together, 
and which are used with such moderation, as serves only to 
discover the faults of the sisters, and to afford them a Httle 
relaxation to enable them the better to support the rigour 6f 
their rules. That father was so good, that I might have 
learnt much more from him than he from me ; but this was 
not my design at that time, but only to show him after what 
manner we Uve.' 

S. John of the Cross, exercising at the same time the office 
of confessor to the little community, was able to observe the 
exact conformity between its exterior mode of life and its 
interior perfection. 

Julian of Avila endeavoured in the meantime to procure a 
license from the ordinary. This license could not be imme- 
diately obtained; but on the following Sunday leave was 
given for Mass to be said in the place which had been prepared 
for a chapel ; and there the Holy Sacrifice was accordingly 
offered. ' I had no thought,' says the Saint, ' that then would 
be fulfilled what I had heard concerning that soul: for 



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Olorious Vision of Don Bemardin. 187 

although I was told it wotild be at the first Mass, I took these 
words to mean that Mass at which the Blessed Sacrament 
would be exposed. When the priest came forward to give ns 
Communion with the ciborium in his hand, at the moment I 
received the Sacred Host, that gentleman appeared to me 
standing at the side of the priest, with joined hands and a 
radiant and joyftil countenance. He thanked me for having 
delivered him from Purgatory, and then ascended straightway 
into Heaven. It was a great joy to me when I first heard 
that he was in the way of salvation, for when I received the 
news of his sudden death, I was in a manner hopeless, fear- 
ing that his soul was lost, because, though he had many god& 
qualities, another kind of death was (I thought) needed for 
such a life, for he was much given to the vanities of the 
world. True it is that he told my companions that he 
believed his death to be near. Great is the mercy of our 
Lord, and wonderfully acceptable to Him is any service 
rendered to His Blessed Mother. May He be praised and 
blessed by all men who thus rewards with eternal life and 
glory our mean and miserable actions, making those things 
great which are in themselves so worthless.* 

This marvellous event occurred on the Feast of our Blessed 
Lady's Assumption, and the convent thus happily founded 
bore the title of ov/r Lady of Mount Garmel, 

The unhealthy position of the house soon told pamfolly 
upon its new inhabitants. The religious fell sick one after 
another, and Teresa's time and thoughts were devoted to the 
duties of infirmarian, till she was herself laid prostrate like 
the rest. DoHa Mary of Mendoza, however, soon came to her 
assistance. She purchased another house in a healthy situa- 
tion nearer the city, and gave it to the religious, in the place 
of that bestowed on them by her deceased brother. 

They removed to their new abode on February 3, 1569, in 
solemn procession, accompanied by the Bishop of Avila, and 
all the clergy, secular and regular, of the city. 

The Convent of Valladolid, under the superiority of Mary 
Baptist (Mary of Ocampo), was distinguished even amongst 
the houses of the reform for the singular perfection of its 
inmates. 



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188 Life of S. Teresa. 

S. Teresa employs two chapters of her Book of Fonnda- 
tions in describing the extraordinary vocation of Casilda de 
Padilla, daughter of the Adelantado of Castile, who, following 
the example of her brother and two elder sisters, renounced 
the splendid inheritance which fell to her by their consecration 
to religion, to devote herself to Grod in her thirteenth year in 
the Convent of ValladoHd ; and the saintly life and death of 
Beatrice Onez, a kinswoman of Casilda (in Carmel, Beatrice 
of the Incarnation). Want of space alone withholds us from 
inserting entire this finished picture of a perfect religious by 
the hand of S. Teresa. The secret of its perfection is dis- 
closed in the reply of Beatrice to one of the sisters who 
expressed surprise at her undisturbed tranquillity amidst the 
severest trials and sufferings. ' The value of whatever we do, 
however smaU it may be, for the love of God is inestimable. 
We should not so much as turn our eyes except to please 
Him.' 

The palace of DoSa Mary d'Acuna, the mother of Casilda, 
and herself a woman of great piety, was a nursery of Saints. 
Besides her three daughters and Beatrice Oiiez, it gave shelter 
for a time to a young peasant girl, who afterwards, under the 
name of Stephania of the Apostles, entered the Convent of 
ValladoHd as a lay sister, and, affcer a life of extraordinary 
purity and penance, died in the odour of sanctity, and was 
seen by her companions entering the glory of the Blessed. 
Another lay sister of Valladolid, Catherine of S. John the 
Evangelist, equalled Stephania in sanctity, and like her, in the 
midst of a life of lowly service and unremitting labour, was 
favoured with the highest gifts of contemplation. 



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Tfie First House of Disccdced Friars. 189 



CHAPTER XV. 
1568—1571. 

FOUNDATION OF THE FIRST HOUSE OF DISOALCED FRIARS AT 
DURVELO — ^REMOVED AFTERWARDS TO MANCERA — FOUNDATION 
OF A CONVENT AT TOLEDO : AND OF TWO HOUSES, ONE OF FRIARS 
AND ANOTHER OF NUNS, AT PASTRANA — F. AMBROSE MARIANO — 
ARRIVAL OF THE APOSTOLICAL VISITOR, PETER HERMANDEZ, 
WHO GIVES FACULTIES FOR THE ERECTION OF A THIRD MON- 
ASTERY OF DISCALCED CARMES AT ALCALA DE KENAXE^ — 
FOUNDATION OF THE CONVENT AT SALAMANCA — ^ANNE OF 
JESUS— AGNES OF JESUS — ^ANNE OF THE INCARNATION— FOUN- 
DATION OF THE CONVENT AT ALVA DE TORMEZ — ^ELECTION OF 
PRIORESS AT MEDINA DISPLEASES THE F. PROVINCIAL, WHO 
COMMANDS THE SAINT TO RETURN TO AVILA, WHENCE SHE IS 
AGAIN RECALLED BY THE APOSTOLIC VISITOR. 

Teresa was now free to begin her long-contemplated work. 
The cottage at Dnrvelo was as suitable a cradle for the new 
family of poverty as the hut of Eivo Torto two centuries 
before ; and the spirit of the saintly youth and the noble- 
hearted old man, who were there to consecrate their lives to 
the renovation of their Order, was worthy of the days of S. 
Francis. 

The approval of the Bishop of Avila, the diocesan, was 
readily given. The assent of the two Provincials was more 
difficult of attainment. F. Alonzo Gonzalez, the Provincial 
now in office, happened providentially to come to ValladoUd 
at this time, and thus fell under the personal influence of the 
Saint, which so often proved irresistible. 

'It pleased Grod,' says she, *that the Provincial of our 
Order, Alonzo Gonzalez (from whom I was to obtain a license), 
should come here at this time. He was a good, simple old 
man, but irresolute in this matter. When I asked for the 



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190 Life of S. Teresa. 

license, I gave hiin so many reasons for granting it, and 
insisted so mucli on the acconnt he would have to render to 
God if he in any way hindered so good a work, that. His 
Divine Majesty so disposing him (because He willed that the 
request should be granted), he was greatly moved. DoSa 
Mary de Mendoza, and the Bishop of Avila, her brother, who 
has ever favoured and protected us, coming thither at the 
same time, soon obtained his consent, as well as that of Father 
Angelo de Salazar, the former Provincial, from whom I feared 
greater opposition. As soon as we had obtained the consent 
of these Fathers, it seemed to me that nothing more was 
needed. We at once arranged that F. John of the Cross 
should go to the house, and make it in some sort habitable ; 
for I made all possible haste to begin, lest some obstacle should 
arise in the way. F. Antony had already collected a few 
necessary things, and we gave what little help we were able 
to afford.' 

S. John of the Cross took up his abode at Durvelo in the 
beginning of October. Having first adored the Blessed Sacra- 
ment in the parish church, he entered his poor dwelling, kissing 
the floor in the overflowing joy of his heart. He set to work to 
arrange it according to the directions of the holy Mother, 
and adorned the rough walls with skulls and wooden crosses, 
made of branches of trees which he collected from the neigh- 
bouring woods. Night found him still so absorbed in his 
work that he had forgotten to provide himself with any food. 
He sent a boy to ask alms from some of the neighbouring 
peasants, and receiving a few dry crusts, he joyftJly supped 
on this meagre fare after the labours of that happy day. 
Having risen before morning to pray, he laid on the rude altar 
the habit of the reform made by the hands of S. Teresa, 
blessed it, and having offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, 
clothed himself therewith, girding himself with a leathern 
belt, his feet being entirely bare (by a rule subsequently made 
the fathers of the reform were directed to wear sandals). 

* Our Lord had in His wisdom so disposed that, although 
not the first to offer himself to the work, S. John of the Cross 
should be the first to assume the habit of the reform, so that 
the structure of the restored temple of Carmel might rest 



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The two Fria/rs take Possession. 191 

npon one, of whom it has been truly eaid, that he was a Gherub 
m wisdom^ amd a Seraph m love* 

He remained alone for two months in a solitude which well 
represented the ancient hermitages of the desert. 

The conntry people gathered round him, attracted at first 
by the strange novelty of his habit, and then lingered to hear 
the saving truths which flowed from his lips, and to pray in 
the little sanctuary which had so suddenly been raised in the 
midst of them. 

In the meantime F. Antony had been busy on his quest, in 
which he had succeeded more entirely to his own satisfaction 
than to S. Teresa's. 

' He came to me,' she says, * at Valladolid, ftdl of joy at the 
provision he had made. Scanty enough it was, but he told 
me that he had got together five hour-glasses, which made 
me laugh heartily. He said that as he wished to observe 
exact regularity as to hours, he had taken care to be well 
provided with hour-glasses. 

' I think they had as yet nothing to sleep upon. There was 
some little delay in fitting up liie house ; for though they 
wished to make several alterations, they had no money. After 
this, F. Antony with great joy renounced his office of prior, 
and made profession of the primitive rule, I had wished him 
to try it first, but he would not, and* went to his little house 
with the greatest contentment in the world. He told me that 
when he first saw that poor place it gave him very great 
interior joy, as he seemed to have given up the world alto- 
gether, and entirely to have left it behind him on entering that 
solitude. Neither to him nor to F. John did the house appear 
inconvenient, but rather they imagined that they were living 
in a paradise. my God ! how little do fine buildings and 
exterior delights contribute to interior joy ! ' 

Father Antony took with him two companions from the 
monastery at Medina — a young brother, named Joseph, who 
was preparing for holy orders, and a priest who desired to 
make tria} of the primitive rule. They arrived at Durvelo on 
the 27th of November, and passed the night in fervent prayer. 
On the following morning, the first Sunday in Advent of 
the year 1668, the two priests, Antony and John, having said 



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192 Ufe of 8. Teresa. 

Mass, knelt before the B. Sacrament, together with B. Joseph 
to renew their religions profession, renouncing all mitiga- 
tions of the rule, which they vowed hereafter to observe in its 
primitive severity. F. Antony at the same time followed the 
example of the holy foundress of the reform by exchanging 
his ancient hereditary surname of H&redia for the sacred name 
of Jemis, 

From this Advent Sunday dates the foundation of the 
Congregation of Discalced Friars, which took place under the 
Pontificate of S. Pius V., S. Charles Borromeo being at that 
time Cardinal Protector of the Order of Mount Carmel. 

In the following Lent, S. Teresa, on her way to Toledo, 
paid a visit to * this little cave of Bethlehem,* as she calls it. 

* I came there one morning,' she says, ' when Father Antony 
of Jesus was sweeping the doorstep of the church with a 
cheerfiil countenance, such as he always has. " What is this, 
Father ?" said I, "what has become of your dignity ?*' He 
rephed in words which expressed his great interior joy: 
"Evil were the days in which I enjoyed honours.*' When I 
went into the church I was astonished to see the spirit which 
our Lord had infased into that house ; and not only I myself, 
but two merchants also. Mends of mine, who had come with me 
from Medina, could do nothing but weep at the crosses and 
skulls which covered the walls. Never shall I forget one 
little wooden cross placed over the holy water stoup, to which 
was fastened a picture of our Lord crucified, which excited 
greater devotion than if it had been a crucifix very elaborately 
carved. The attic, which formed the choir, was high enough 
towards the middle for the Fathers to recite their Office there ; 
but to enter it they were obliged to stoop very low, as were 
those also who came to hear Mass. 

* They had made two little hermitages on each side of the 
church, where they could not remain, except either sitting or 
lying down, and filled the inside with hay, because the place 
was very cold. Their heads, even in a reclining posture, 
almost touched the roof. Towards the altar were two little 
windows, and two stones served for pillows ; here also were 
crosses and skulls. I understood that after Matins were over 
they returned not to sleep, but continued in prayer, the gift 



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Sanctuary of our Lady at Mancera. l93 

of which they possessed in a sublime degree ; and it happened 
many times when they went to Prime that their habits were 
covered with snow, and they perceived it not. 

' They went about preachifig in many neighbouring places, 
where the people were without any instruction, which was 
one reason why I was glad that a house should be established 
there, for I was told there was no monastery near to afford 
them spiritual help. In a short time the Fathers gained such 
a reputation as gave me the greatest consolation to hear of. 
They went to preach at a distance of six or eight miles, bare- 
foot (for they wore no sandals then, though afterwards they 
were commanded to wear them), in the midst of the snow and 
cold; and when they had finished preaching and hearing 
confessions they returned very late to their meal, but with such 
joy that all their sufferings seemed but little to them. As for 
food, they had sufficient, for the people in all the neighbouring 
villages provided them with more than they wanted ; and 
some neighbouring gentlemen who came to their church to 
confession were not slow to offer them better houses, and more 
conveniently situated. 

' Among them was one Don Louis, of Toledo, who was lord 
of five villages. This gentleman had built a church to receive 
a picture of our Lady, worthy indeed of the veneration of the 
faithful.' 

To this sanctuary of our Lady at Mancera, a village not far 
distant from Durvelo, F. Antony of Jesus removed his little 
commimity at the earnest desire of Don Louis, who built them 
a house, and provided all things necessary for the service of 
the church, and whose pious liberality to our Lady of Mount 
Carmel was afterwards rewarded by the vocation of his 
daughter and his eldest son, who both lived happy Hves, and 
died happy deaths in her Order. 

Whilst S. Teresa was busied in the foundation of Valladolid, 
she had been invited to open a house at Toledo— one of the 
most ancient and wealthy cities of Spain. She thus relates 
the circumstances which led to this request : — 

' There Hved in the city of Toledo an eminent merchant 
and great servant of God, whose name was Martin Ramirez. 
He would never marry, and led such a life as befits a good 





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194 Life of 8. Teresa. 

Catholic, for he was a man of great virtue and honesty. He 
had amassed his money in a lawfiil calling, with the intention 
of devoting it to some such work of charity as he should find 
to be most pleasing to our Lord.'* 

This good man, falling dangerously ill, was advised by his 
confessor, F. Hernandez, of the Society of Jesus, to devote his 
wealth to the foundation of a convent of Carmelite nuns. 

Having no time to arrange the matter himself, Martin 
Ramirez left full powers to make the foundation with his 
brother, Alonzo, who, immediately after his death, wrote to 
the Saint, begging her to come as soon as possible to Toledo. 
Being at that time too much engaged in the foundation of 
VaUadoUd to be able to leave that place without some little 
delay, Teresa wrote to accept the foundation, promising to 
come to Toledo as soon as she should be at liberty. In the 
meantime she begged Dofla Louisa de la Cerda, and her other 
friends at Toledo, to find a house and obtain the necessary 
license for the foundation. Great difficulties, as usual, arose, 
of which S. Teresa was duly informed by Alonzo Bamirez. 
She was in no way disconcerted thereby, considering, as she 
says in her answer to his letter, that things went remarkably 
well when her friends just escaped being stoned, as had nearly 
befallen them in the foundation of Avila. * I know by ex- 
perience,' she adds, *that the devil cannot endure these 
houses, and is sure to raise a persecution against them ; but 
God is all-powerftd, and our infernal enemy is sure to come 
off with a broken head.* 

Thus, full of courage, and having visited Durvelo (as we 
have seen), and stayed for a short time at Avila on her way, 
Teresa arrived at Toledo on March 24, 1569. She took up 
her abode once more in the house of her beloved friend Dofia 
Louisa, where, with her two companions, she Hved in all the 
retirement that she could have enjoyed in her own convent. 
It might have been expected that few difficulties would have 
attended a foundation in so wealthy and populous a city as 
Toledo, especially as several rich and influential persons were 
interested in its success ; but seldom did Teresa meet with so 
many and such vexatious difficulties as in this her fifth found- 
ation. Our Lord apparently intended to show that the pro- 



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Opposition at Toledo. 195 

gress of the reform depended upon Himself, and not upon the 
aid of man. 

* I immediately began,' says the Saint, * to treat on the 
business of the foundation with Alonzo Bamirez ; but a son-in- 
law of his, named Diego Ortiz, although a very good man, 
and one who had studied theology, was more attached to his 
own opinion than Alonzo, and would not therefore so soon 
listen to reason. They began to demand of me many con- 
ditions which I did not think proper to grant.' 

Moreover, no house could be found, and the Vicar- General 
who administered the affairs of the diocese (the archiepiscopal 
see being vacant) refused the necessary permission, though 
some of the most influential inhabitants of the city, both 
ecclesiastical and secular, did all in their power to obtain it. 

'On the other hand,' says S. Teresa, 'I was able to conclude 
nothing with Alonzo Ramirez, on account of his son-in-law, 
so that at last we broke off the agreement altogether. I 
knew n(5t what to do ; for, as I had come to Toledo with no 
other purpose but to make a foundation, I saw that to go 
away without doing so would expose us to great ridicule and 
reproach. My principal concern was about the license from 
the Ordinary ; for I doubted not that if we could once obtain 
this our Lord would provide for everything else,, as He had 
done in other places. I resolved therefore to speak to the 
Vicar- Greneral myself, and, going to a church near his house, 
I sent to ask him to speak to me. The matter had been 
dragging on for more than two months, and becoming more 
hopeless every day. When the "Vicar- General appeared, I 
said to hiTn that it seemed a very hard case that poor women 
who had come to Toledo, desiring only to* live in strict en- 
closure, and to labour after their own perfection, should find 
others who were making none of these sacrifices, but passing 
their lives in ease and pleasure, oppose a purpose so praise- 
worthy, and so pleasing to God. By these and many other 
arguments which I used with all freedom and courage, our 
Lord enabled me so to move his heart that before I left him 
he gave me the permission required. I came away well 
pleased, thinking that I now possessed everything, though in 
fiact I had nothing but three or four ducats, with which I 

o2 



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196 Life of 8. Teresa. 

immediately bought two pictures painted on linen (because I 
bad not one to place on the altar), two straw beds, and two 
coverlets. As to a house, I knew of none, and had nothing 
more to do now with Alonzo Ramirez. Another merchant of 
this city, a fiiend of mine, who had always led a single life 
and applied himself to good works, especially to the relief of 
prisoners, told me not to be troubled, for that he would find 
me a house. He fell sick, however, and could not keep his 
promise.* 

f Our Lord sent His servant in a few days an unexpected 
helper. 

*A very holy Franciscan,^ says she, * named F. Martin of 
the Cross, who had spent some days at Toledo, had asked a 
young penitent of his to offer to do me any service in his 
power. This young man, whose name was Andrada, and who 
was very poor, did not seem likely to be able to help us much. 
One day when I was hearing Mass in a church, he came to 
give me the good father's message, assuring me that he would 
do all in his power to serve me, I thanked him ; but my 
companions and I could not help laughing heartily at the 
assistance sent me by the holy friar. 

' Now, however, that I had a license, and no one to help 
me to use it, I thought of the young man sent me by F. Martin, 
and mentioned him to my companions, but they laughed 
much at me, telling me that he would be sure to make the 
matter known. I would not however Hsten to them, for, as 
he had been sent by that servant of God, I was confident he 
would prove in some way useful, and that he had noir been 
sent without a reason. So I sent for him, and told him what 
had passed, strictly enjoining him to secrecy, and desired him 
to look for a house, for the rent of which I would give hiyp 
security. The money was to be provided by Alonzo d'Avila, 
who, as I have said, had fallen sick. The young man thought 
it would be very easy to find a house, and assured me that he 
should succeed in his search. So the next morning, being at 
Mass at the church of the Jesuits, he came to tell me that he 
had found a house, and, as it was very near, he had brought 
the keys with him that we might go and see it. We did so, 
and found it so convenient that we dwelt in it almost a year. 



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FouTidation of the Convent 197 

Very often when I think of this fonndation I am astonished at 
the ways of Gk)d ; for two or three months several rich persons 
had been going all round Toledo seeking for a honse, without 
being able to find one, and yet when this poor young man 
undertook the search, our Lord was pleased that he should 
find it at once. A monastery might have been erected without 
any trouble had I agreed with Alonzo Ramirez, but this was 
not to be, in order that the house might be founded in poverty 
and suffering. 

' I ordered immediate possession to be taken of the house, 
lest any fresh difficulty should arise, Not long afterwards 
Andrada came to tell me that it would be empty that day, and 
that we might send in our fnmiture. I told him that there was 
little to move, for we had nothing but two straw beds and a 
coverlet, at which he seemed astonished. My answer did not 
please my companions, for they said that, as I had let him 
know we were so poor, he would perhaps be unwilling to help 
us. I did not heed this, nor did he take any notice of what I 
had said ; for He who gave him the will to hdp us, continued 
it also for the accompKshment of the work.. 

' Nothing could surpass Andrada's diligence in preparing the 
house. We borrowed all that was necessary for saying Mass, 
and at nightfall we went to take possession of the house, 
carrying with us a Httle bell, such as is rung at the elevation 
(for we had no other), and thus we spent the night as quietly 
as possible, in making preparations ; but I found no place 
proper for a chapel except a room which was entered through 
another Httle house adjoining, which we had also hired, but 
which was partly occupied by some women, to whom we dared 
not say anything, lest they should discover us.' The noise 
made by the preparations in the chapel alarmed these good 
women, who began to clamour loudly against the foundation. 
A Httle money and the promise that another house should be 
found for them, brought them however to reason. The doors 
were secured, the room prepared for Mass ; and thus another 
Church was dedicated to S. Joseph ; the Blessed Sacrament 
was placed on the altar, and legal possession taken of the 
monastery on May 14, the Feast of S. Boniface. 

On the day after the opening of the convent, an incident 



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198 Life of S. Teresa. 

occTured which gave great consolation to Teresa. A child 
who was passing by, stood still to look at the httle chapel, and 
cried aloud: 'Blessed be God! how beantifal and clean it 
looks.* Greatly touched to hear that thanksgiving from those 
innocent Hps, Teresa said to her companions, ' I account 
myself well repaid for all the troubles that have attended this 
foundation by that little angel's one glory to Ood.* 

To the vexatious opposition which she had already endured, 
was added the trial of a greater degree of poverty than had 
been experienced in any former foundation. 

It seems extraordinary that Doiia Louisa, who had the 
power, and most certainly the will, to assist the friend whom 
she loved so well, should not have come forward to help her ; 
but it would seem as if our Lord was not pleased that she 
should miss the privilege of poverty in the midst of this proud 
and luxurious city. 

' For some days,' says the Saint, 'we were without any fdr- 
niture but our two straw beds and coverlets. Our poverty 
was so great, that we had not so much as a chip to broil a 
sprat with, till our Lord moved some one (I know not who) 
to place in the church a faggot of wood whereby our wants 
were suppHed, During the nights we felt the cold very much, 
though we covered ourselves as well as we could with our 
cloaks. It may seem strange that coming from the house of a 
lady who loved me so much, we should have been left in such 
great poverty, I know no other reason for it except that our 
Lord mshed us to learn from experience the manifold bless- 
ings of that virtue. It is true I asked for nothing, for I do 
not like to be troublesome to anybody ; so she may not have 
thought of our necessities, for she had been so bountifal to us 
on former occasions, that she would not have willingly neg- 
lected us now. 

' Be this as it may, our state of destitution was a great bless- 
ing to us. When I look back upon the joy and consolation 
which filled our hearts, I cannot sufficiently admire the trea- 
sures which God conceals in the bosom of Holy Poverty. It 
was to us a time of sweet contemplation, though it lasted but 
a short time, for it was not long before our wants were more 
than supplied. And truly my sadness was then so great, that 



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Castilian Pride. 199 

I seemed like one possessed of precious jewels, wlio has liad 
them all stolen, and is thus left poor ; so was I afflicted at the 
loss of my poverty, as were also my companions. When I 
asked them what made them sorrowful, they answered: 
" What are we to do, Mother, for now it seems we are no 
longer poor? " 

* Prom that time the desire of poverty has increased within 
me, and a certain contempt of temporal goods, the want of 
which brings with it such peace and content.* 

The person who came forward to the reHef of the religious 
was Alonzo Ramirez himself. Finding that the convent had 
been established without him, and that the poor Carmelites 
were now in high esteem with the authorities, both ecclesias- 
tical and secular, of the city, he once more proposed to build 
them a church and convent ; limiting the troublesome condi- 
tions which he had at first imposed, to the reasonable request 
that he and his descendants should have a right of burial in 
the church of which he was to be founder. 

A difficulty arose on this point, characteristic of the country 
and the age. The proud nobles of Toledo had no desire to 
monopolize the exercise of works of charity, but were highly 
indignant that one not belonging to their caste should enjoy 
any privilege attached to it. 

It was very right and very suitable that a noble lady of the 
best blood of Castile should found a convent in their city. 
The strictness, and even extremity of its poverty, was, to 
religious, an honourable poverty, and therefore, discreditable 
neither to her nor to them ; neither did they see any reason 
why the wealthy merchant should not employ his wealth in 
the erection of a convent and church ; but that a man who 
was not of illustrious, or even gentle birth, should presume to 
claim the right of sepulture there, thus arrogating to himself 
the position of a patron and founder, was a presumption not 
to be endured. Such was the feeling not only amongst 
seculars ; the Vicar- General, who had granted the Hcense for 
the foundation, spoke of withdrawing it on the plea that it 
had been given for a house without revenue and without 
patron or founder. 

Teresa was in no small perplexity, but our Lord solved it 
for her in prayer. 

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200 Life of 8. Teresa. 

* Thou wilt act foolishly, my child,' said He, ' if thou givest 
way to the maxims of the world. Look upon Me, poor and 
despised. Are the great ones of this world great before Me ? 
Men are to be esteemed, not for their lineage, but for their 
virtues.' The holy Mother immediately concluded her agree- 
ment with Ramirez, who ftimished money to build a new 
monastery, to which the nuns removed in the following year. 

' In that church,' says the Saint, ' are many Masses said, to 
the great consolation both of the nuns and of the people. 
Had I paid attention to the vain opinion of the world, it 
would have been impossible to have estabhshed ourselves so 
conveniently, and we should have done an injury to him who 
so freely bestowed his charity on us.' 

Among the subjects who came to offer themselves at Toledo 
was one who afterwards bore in religion the name of Arme of 
the Mother of God, * She was about forty years old,' says S. 
Teresa, * and her whole life had been spent in the service of 
His Divine Majesty : and though no pleasures were wanting 
to her in her state and in her own house, for she was single 
and very rich, yet she chose the poverty and obedience of a 
religious . order, and so she came to speak to me on the sub- 
ject. She was very sickly ; but when I saw a soul so well 
disposed and determined, it seemed to me a good beginning 
for the foundation, and accordingly I admitted her. Gk)d was 
pleased to give her much better health in her austerity and 
subjection than ever she had in the midst of her Hberty and 
pleasures ; but that which edified me most was, that before 
she made her profession, she wished to give her large property 
to the convent in the way of alms. To this I would not 
consent, telling her she might repent of this step, or that we 
might not allow her to make her profession, and then what 
would she do ; the thing would appear very hard to her. We 
should not of course have dismissed her without restoring her 
property, but I wished so to place the case before her for two 
reasons; first, lest anxiety on this point should become a 
source of temptation to her ; secondly, to test her disposi- 
tion. She answered me that were this to happen, she would 
willingly beg her bread for the love of God, and I could get 
no other answer from her. She has lived very happily in 



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Blessed Revelation from our Lord. 201 

religion eyer since, and in mncli better health than she had in 
the world.' 

During her stay at this time in Toledo the Saint received 
a most blessed revelation from our Lord. 

* One of onr sisters,' she says (it was Sister Petronilla of 
S. Andrew), ' fell dangerously ill, and after receiving the last 
Sacraments, was so cheerfdl and happy that she seemed 
already in Heaven, so that we entreated her to recommend us to 
God and to those Saints to whom we had a particular devotion. 
A little while before she expired, I went to pray before the 
Most Holy Sacrament, beseeching our Lord to give her a 
happy death. I then came back to her cell to stay with 
her, and on my entrance I saw our Lord at the bed's head, 
with His arms outspread as if protecting her, and He said 
to me. Be assured that in like ma/rmer I will protect all the 
wwJM who shall die m these monasteries, so that they shall not 
fear any temptation at the how of death. By these words I 
was greatly comforted. A short time afterward}^ I spoke to 
her, when she said to me : Mother, what great things I am 
ahowt to see ; and with these words she expired like an Angel. 
I have observed that several of our sisters who have died 
since that time have evinced a deep repose and peace like that 
of profound contemplation, and have seemed to be free from 
all temptations. 

' And thus,' contLuues the Saint, ' I hope, in the goodness of 
God, that He will grant us this favour through the merits of 
His Son, and of His glorious Mother whose habit we wear ; 
wherefore, my daughters, let us endeavour to be true Car- 
melites, for our journey will soon be at an end ; and did we 
but know the affliction which many endure at the hour of their 
death, and the snares and delusions with which the devil 
tempts them, we should highly esteem this favour.' 

About, a fortnight after the foundation of the convent at 
Toledo, Teresa was called upon to establish another. ' After 
we had finished fitting up the house,' says she, 'being weaty 
with having to speak with workmen, and thinking all was now 
finished, I was sitting down to my meal on Whitsun Eve so 
fall of joy, that I could scarcely eat at the thought that now 
on this festival I should have some time to converse with our 



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202 Life of 8. Teresa. 

Lord.' She was not, however, to be left long at peace, being 
called to the grate to speak with a messenger from the 
Princess of EvoH, the wife of the Prince Ruy-Gomez de Silva, 
Chamberlain to Philip II. 

Teresa had some time before received an application from 
this lady for a foundation at Pastrana, but had no expectation 
of being so soon called upon to begin it. 

She was now informed that the Princess was waiting to 
meet her at Pastrana, having left Madrid for this express 
purpose. 

To leave the foundation at Toledo thus in its very infancy 
seemed impracticable to the Saint, and no less so to her com- 
panions, who with one consent besought her to remain with 
them till the novices should be formed and regular observance 
established. She, therefore, determined to write a letter to 
the Princess, declining her ofiPer, at least for the present ; but 
first, according to her invariable practice, she went before the 
Tabernacle to consult our Lord. 

He returned her this answer, ' My daughter, fail not to go ; 
it will be for more ends than this foundation, and take the 
rule and constitutions with thee.' Teresa, who always thus 
tested the inspirations which she received in prayer, imme- 
diately laid the matter before her confessor, without acquaint- 
ing him with the answer she had received ; and, being advised 
by him on no account to reftise the proposal now made to her, 
she set olff for Pastrana on Whit Monday in the carriage sent 
for her by the Princess, accompanied by Isabella of S. Paul 
and another religious from the Incarnation at Avila, both of 
whom had lately embraced the reform. They lodged at 
Madrid on their way, at a Franciscan convent, founded by 
Doiia Bleanora de Mascareiia, who lived in a house adjoining 
it. And now Teresa understood the meaning of our Lord's 
words, that she was going to Pastrana for another purpose 
than the foundation of a convent of nuns. DoSa Eleanora 
informed her that there were two devout hermits at that time 
in Madrid who greatly desired to speak with her. 

The ♦first of these, named Ambrose Mariano, of a noble 
Neapolitan family, had distinguished himself in almost every 
branch of secular and ecclesiastical learning, as well as in the 



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Ambrose Mariano. 203 

profession of arms. He was a mathematician, a scliolar, and 
a poet ; having taken the degree of doctor both in theology 
and law, he was deputed to attend the Council of Trent, and 
was employed by the Fathers there in many weighty matters 
in several of the northern States of Europe. He afterwards 
entered the Order of the Knights of Malta, and fought with 
distinction at the battle of S. Quentin, 1557, and entering 
the town with the Spanish army after the victory, he drew 
his consecrated sword in defence of two young ladies who 
were threatened with insult by some of his companions in 
arms. A short time afterwards he was thrown into prison on 
a false accusation of murder. Being set at liberty by the 
discovery of the perjury of his accusers, who owed their lives 
to his generous intercession, he was appointed by Philip II. 
governor of the Prince of Salmone, and accompanied his 
pupil into Spain, where, having made the spiritual exercises of 
S. Ignatius under the Jesuit Fathers at Cordova, he came out 
of his retreat fiilly resolved to consecrate himself entirely to 
God. He joined a community of hermits, and persevered in 
leading a poor, humble, laborious, and penitent life, from 1562 
till 1569. He had made several attempts to obtain an ap- 
proval of the rule of this hermitage from the Pope, S. Pius V., 
but the holy pontiff objecting to the establishment of any new 
religious Order, he and his companions adopted the rule of S. 
Basil. At the time of S. Teresa's visit to Madrid, on her 
way to Pastrana, he with his companion, a pooi^ unlearned, 
but saintly man, named B. John of Misery, was also bound 
to the same place, to take possession of the site for a new 
hermitage, which had been offered to him by the Prince Ruy- 
Gomez. 

S. Teresa now understood why our Lord had commanded 
her to take with her the rule and constitutions. She gave 
them to Mariano, who spent that night in reading them to 
his companion, B. John, translating from the Latin as he went 
along. He interrupted himself by exclaiming, in the joy of 
his heart, 'B. John, we have found what we have been 
seeking so long. 

' This is the rule which our Lord would have us to embrace. 
It is approved by the Church ; it has rekindled the fervour of 



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204 Life of 8. Teresa. 

many, botli men and women ; the fonndress is a most holy 
soul. What more do we want? Let us make our profes- 
sion of this institute, for doubtless it is our way to Heaven.' 
The joj of the Saint equalled that of her new postulant at the 
opportunity thus afforded of opening the second house of 
reformed friars, which she had been empowered to found, at 
the hermitage which had been given by the Prince for the use 
of these holy men. She wrote immediately to the Bishop and 
the two Provincials for the necessary facxdties, and, desiring 
Mariano to wait for the answers in Madrid, she went on her- 
self to Pastrana. 

Ambrose Mariano displayed the same heroism and energy 
in reHgion which had distinguished him in the world. Some- 
times, however, the impetuosity of the soldier, and the inde- 
pendence of the solitary, gave no little trouble to the holy 
foundress, especially in the conflict which arose with the miti- 
gated Carmes. 

She complains in a letter to the Greneral in 1575, of his 
impatience and self reliance. 

* There have been no few contests amongst us, particularly 
between F. Mariano and myself;' and again, in a letter 
to Mariano himself, she says : ^ May Grod keep you. Father, 
notwithstanding all your faults, and make you a great saint.' 
This prayer was granted, for F. Mariano ended a life of great 
austerity by a very holy death. 

The Sainrf} was received with great affection and respect by 
the Prince and Princess, who assigned her separate apartments 
in their palace, which she was obliged to occupy much longer 
than she expected, on account of delays in the preparation of 
the house intended for the nuns. It was not long before 
several events occurred which rendered her stay there ex- 
tremely unpleasant. The Princess had brought with her firom 
Madrid an Augustinian nun of Segovia, whom she had set her 
heart upon inducing Teresa to receive into her reform. The 
Saint steadily refused, on the ground that, except for some 
special cause, which she had no ground to believe existed in 
this case, she had determined never to receive a religious from 
another Order. This was quite enough to excite the anger of 
the Princess, who was not accustomed to be contradicted. 



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Petty PersecutioTi. 205 

To satisfy her, Teresa wrote to ask tlie opinion of Father 
BaSez, with whose decision in the negative the Princess was 
obliged to appear content. But a jfresh opportunity which 
arose of annoying the Saint, soon showed that her satisfaction 
was only apparent. By some means or other, she had dis- 
covered that Teresa had brought with her the manuscript of 
her life ; and forthwith proceeded by every means of teazing, 
coaxing, and chiding, to garu a sight of it. Failing in her own 
attempts, she next brought her husband to her aid, whose just 
and honourable character would, she knew, have greater 
weight with their guest than her own. Teresa yielded at last, 
on the promise that the manuscript should be seen by none 
but the Prince and Princess. Whether from carelessness 
or design, the book got into the hands of some one of the 
household, and the contents were soon known throughout the 
palace. The Mother Teresa was censured, ridiculed, and 
slandered, as another sorceress, like Magdalen of the Cross, 
whose name was but too famous at that time in Spain. 

These reports spread even to Madrid, where the witticisms 
of the Princess of Evoli on Teresa's book were circulated 
among the ladies of the Court, and in course of time led to 
its being sent for to be examined by the Inquisition. 

S. Teresa passes over this petty persecution with these few 
words. * "We lived here for three months, during which we 
endured many severe trials ; the Princess, moreover, required 
of me many conditions not in accordance with the spirit of 
our Order. I resolved, therefore, to return without making 
any foundation, rather than agree to her wishes. But the 
Prince, by his prudence and moderation (which were very 
great), made his wife sensible of the injustice of her demands, 
and I also agreed to some things because I was anxious for 
the erection of the monastery of friars, knowing its import- 
ance, which was afterwards proved.* 

The Princess had desired that this convent should be erected 
in strict poverty, promising to support it by her alms ; but 
S. Teresa saw too plainly the uncertainty of any help depend- 
ing upon her to consent to this arrangement ; she therefore 
required that a sufficient provision should be made for the 
religious, as had been the case in the foundation of Malagon. 



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9^ Lip of E, TinvB. 

mfttt^ Kwii aMrti aaci wubhc : tue fgnnri i mi iF & ::b^^ 
^^ WiMit nwrv at) wf wvDi - Xc^ :Bh snaiBP Anrpr 
»nit «•( tiiu> ttuttitnU:. ibr uonfnrfegf it l^ ckt ^«Mvr:tt Av 

f •}■},« *ri unit % tliiu afl'urdt^ of ofienis^ titt- 

f»ft»#iiu4i fruw^. wliic'L hLc bad begrr 

flu tu*Miit«|r<' viliU'L luid boeL gircL by tbePriBaE-:iBrA 

frf ilicMt holy uwn. Hbe wrote immecbBEeh' xc> i^h- Sdir 

Ui«* Iv^o |S'()Viru'uJjit (or tbe fieoBBHiy :£KadEu&, flBA.^ 

Mm mtio (o wiiii for tbe aanretrB in ^ftrtrin dbe ^whbol m 

\ M\Ut^>iKi Mitriiuu) (liitplsjed t^ ome luj r uaM i ani e 
^^^ ^N ^wtoM v^lu«>)t hud diittingmfibed biininliie^iroiM. * 
«MM,vH Ko»f^M't\ (h(« im|>ctao«itj of tbe soldieK::. and dt 
«s « J^ixH^S' of \\\^ poliUry, gave no Httie tsvnUe %a A^ 
*^ Nv^^ ^vi,^xvm)\^V in tbe conflict whidi aroK wadi tk*. 

V*. ^N^x,, ,xU\wi i« * loiter to the General in 1S7^ 

>■ ^ N v^vv K^« «^> few contests amongst na, parti 
^ ^-^- > V*-^4>^o *wiii myself;* and again, in m 

' ^^ V .-,^nO( *W i*ttv»: *May God keep yon, . 

^ >' t* ^ ', \>N^<' lUuU*. and make yon a grea< 
>^ V v\-** ^ ^w^ix^v Hv«* F» Mariano ended a life < 

' ' % ^^ *^ -NS\^\NS^ xxith great affection and res 
'^ \ \, ^v'^H yv^xs^M^igned ber separate apai 

' XX \x \ V vW WiW ^xtUig^ to occnpy much 
\ X V , t .* *>vN^is>sl H\f tWlavs in tbe prepar 
xv \v Ox^ v^<i^^?t. It was not long 
vx ^^, \v>,N> tjv^i'Wx^d her stay tl^* 
^ . lu. ';^.^^vwWiHrottgbtwitb^'^ 

. > >iVKN^>^ whtdm she ha^ 
^v XV ♦ ^^ \wv*ix^ w^K^ her refiartD 

' . ,K .^.,x* V ^ ^^^^i^mtSfO^ 



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J^-<y 







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206 Life of S. Teresa. 

F. Mariano and liis companion now arrived with the Hcens© 
for the foundation, and S. Teresa sent for F. Antony of 
Jesus from Mancera to give them the habit. As he delayed 
to come, and F. Mariano was impatient, and S. Teresa no 
less so, to begin the foundation, she determined not to wait 
for him. 

' I prepared,' says she, * their habits and cloaks that they 
might take the habit inmiediately. About this time also I 
sent for some more subjects from the Convent of Medina del 
Campo, for I had brought only two nuns with me. With 
them came a father named Balthasar of Jesus (in the world 
Balthasar de Meto), who, though rather old, was a very good 
preacher ; he came intending to become a discalced friar, for 
which I returned thanks to Grod. 

'He gave the habit to F. Mariano and his companion, as 
lay brothers, because F. Mariano did not wish to be a priest, 
but to be admitted as an inferior ; nor could I prevail on him 
to change his mind, though he afterwards received the priest- 
hood at the command of our Father General. 

* These two monasteries then being founded, and Father 
Antony of Jesus having also come, some novices entered who 
began to serve our Lord so fervently, that, if He please, I 
hope some one else will relate their virtues better than I can. 
As regards the nuns, their monastery was founded here, to the 
great joy of the nobility ; and the Princess took great care to 
make them happy, and to show them every kindness until the 
death of the Prince.' 

S. Teresa left Pastrana about the middle of July, 1569, for 
Toledo, where she seems to have remained some months. 

The visitation of the Father General having failed, in con- 
sequence of the passive resistance of the Spanish friars, to 
effect the desired reform, two Cormrdssaries Apostolic were em- 
powered by Pope Pius Y., in the beginning of the year 1570, 
at the request of the Catholic King, to visit the houses of the 
Order of Mount Carmel, the one in Andalusia, the other in 
Castile, and to establish such reforms as they should judge to 
be necessary. The two visitors, Peter Hermandez, Prior of 
the Convent of Talavera, and Francis de Vargas, Prior of S. 
Paul's at Cordova, were both Dominicans, distinguished for 



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The Apostolic Vidtors. 207 

their leaming, prudence and sanctity. Hernandez, the com- 
missary for Castile, determined to visit, in the first place, the 
convent of discalced Mars at Pastrana, thinking probably 
that he should find less difficulty in reforming those convents 
which had need of it, if his authority were first acknowledged 
by those who were strictly observing the primitive rule. In 
the beginning of Lent the Apostolic Visitor appeared at 
Pastrana with a companion of his Order. They travelled on 
foot, preceded by a mule which carried their mantles and other 
necessaries. Both religious and seculars were edifie(^ at this 
humble mode of travelling in a man venerable both by his 
years and his position, and invested with such high authority 
in the Church. 

To the remarks of those who expressed their admiration, he 
repHed, that, ' being come to visit Saints, it befitted him not 
to travel like the profane.' 

In the convent he strictly followed the austere rule of the 
fathers, kept silence like them, was assiduous in his attendance 
in the choir, and shared their rigid Lenten fast on bread and 
water. Afber a few days he called the fathers together in 
Chapter, and unfolded to them his commission. He told 
them that, although in truth it did not extend to them who 
had already embraced so strict a reform, yet they might, if they 
should judge it expedient, acknowledge him for their superior, 
as he had authority from the Apostolic Nuncio to receive their 
submission. The fathers, having consulted together, were all 
agreed on the great benefit which would arise to the reform 
from its being placed under subjection to the Apostolic Visitor, 
and they accordingly professed obedience to him, their ex- 
ample being followed by the nuns. 

The opinion of Hernandez with regard to the reform may 
be gathered from his answer to a novice who manifested to 
him a temptation to leave the Order for one of greater aus- 
terity and perfection. The experienced rehgious saw through 
the deceit of the enemy, and quieted the troubled mind 
of the youth by these words: 'From all that I have ever 
seen or read, I believe that there is not in the whole Church 
of G-od a monastery which exceeds this in austerity and per- 
fection.' 



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208 Life of 8. Teresa. 

The benefit which accrued to the reform from its ready 
obedience to the Apostolic Visitor appears from the facilities 
which it obtained from him for its extension. 

The number of subjects in Mancera and Pastrana had in- 
creased so rapidly, that a great desire arose for the foundation 
of a house near one of the universities, where the younger 
members of the institute might have ftdler opportunities of 
cultivating their minds to the greater glory of God, and where 
their example might be the means of exciting the secular 
studenijp to follow it by forsaking the world. 

The £Biculties granted by the Father G-eneral for the founda- 
tion of houses of discalced friars extended only to two, which 
had been already founded, and although the Father Provincial, 
Alonzo Gonzalez, might have been willing to extend the per- 
mission, the jealousy of the reform, which was already arising 
in the Order, rendered it useless to apply to him, many of his 
best subjects having followed the example of F. Balthasar 
Nieto, and joined the ranks of the reform. 

The fathers at Pastrana having no doubt conferred upon 
the matter with their holy Mother, had recourse to the Apo- 
stolic Visitor who was fiimished with the fullest authority, and 
who gladly gave faculties for the erection of their third con- 
vent at Alcala de Henarez. 

This house was opened on November 1, 1670, and the 
wisdom of the choice of the famous university of Alcala for 
the new foundation was proved by the speedy application of 
many of its most promising members for admission into the 
rising refom. 

On the same day that the monastery of Alcala was begun, 
S. Teresa founded another convent for nuns at the seat of the 
no less celebrated university of Salamanca, whither she had 
been invited by Father Martin Gnttierez, the Rector of the 
Jesuit College in that ciiy. 

Having travelled through the greater part of a very cold 
nightj the holy Mother, then more than usually weak in health, 
arrived at Salamanca on the Vigil of All Saints. 

The approval of the Bishop, Don Gonzalez de Mendoza, had 
been readily obtained. This prelate had lately returned from 
attending the Council of Trent, where he had been remarked 



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Troubles at ScUamanca. 209 

for his piety, learning, and ability. Having turned Ms atten- 
tion especially to the regulation of religious communities, he 
was overjoyed at the prospect of the foundation in his episco- 
pal city of a house which would be a model to the religious of 
his diocese of primitive regularity and perfection. 

Being fiimished with this approval, the holy Mother con- 
sidered the convent, as she says, ' already founded.' She had, 
moreover, taken measures for the hire of a house in the occu- 
pation of some students, who were expected to vacate it with- 
out fail before the arrival of the religious. The following is 
her own graphic description of the misfortunes which awaited 
herself and her solitary companion when they reached Sala- 
manca. 

' On the Vigil of All Saints we arrived at Salamanca about 
the middle of the day. As soon as we reached the inn, I en- 
deavoured to find out a man of that city whom I had pre- 
viously requested to have the house ready for us. His name 
was Nicholas Gruttierez, a great servant of God ' (probably a 
kinsman of F. Gnttierez) 'who took a great deal of trouble 
about this foundation, and entered into the matter with much 
devotion and goodwill. When he came, he told me that the 
house was not empty, because he could not induce the students 
to depart. I told him how important it was that they should 
give up the house immediately, before it became known that I 
was in the town, because I was always afraid of some distur- 
bance. He went to the owner of the house, and laboured so 
hard, that they left it that evening, and we entered it im- 
mediately. This was the first house I founded without the 
Most Blessed Sacrament being placed there, having hitherto 
supposed that possession was not taken till this was done; 
but I had now learnt that this was not necessary, which was a 
great consolation to me, having had no time to prepare the 
church ; for the students, having little or no regard for clean- 
liness, had left the house in such a state that we were obliged 
to work all that night to clean it. 

* The next morning the first Mass was said.' Thus was 
the seventh convent of the reform founded in a night, and 
under the invocation of S. Joseph. * I sent for more nuns,* 
says the Saint, 'from Medina del Campo. In the mean- 

p 



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210 Life jof S. Teresa. 

time, my companion and I remained there alone on the night 
of All Saints. I tell you, sisters, that when I remember the 
fears of my companion, whose name was Mary of the Blessed 
Sacrament, a nnn older than myself, and a great servant of 
God, I cannot help laughing. The house was very large and 
in great disorder, and contained many garrets. She cotdd not 
help thinking of the students, because she imagined that as 
they were unwilling to leave the house, some of them might 
have hidden themselves in it, which they could, indeed, have 
very easily done. We shut ourselves up in a room where 
there was some straw (which was the first kind of furniture I 
always provided when founding a house), because we thus had 
something to sleep on ; and that night we had borrowed two 
coverlets. The next day, the nuns of S. Elizabeth, who lived 
near us, whom we imagined we had greatly displeased, lent us 
coverlets also for our companions who were coming, and gave 
us alms with great kindness and charity as long as we re- 
mained in that house. When my companion found herself 
shut up in this room, she seemed somewhat more calm and 
quiet about the students, though she did nothing but look 
around, first on one side, and then on the other, with much 
fear ; and the devil endeavoured to heighten her apprehensions 
of danger, that so he might disturb me ; for on account of 
the weakness of my health at that time, a little thing was 
sufficient to trouble me. I asked her what she was looking at, 
since no one could enter our chamber ? She answered : " I am 
thinking. Mother, if I should die here, what would you do 
alone ? " If such a thing had happened, I should certainly 
have been in a sad case. She did, indeed, make me muse a 
little on the subject, and also made me a&aid ; for dead bodies 
(though I do not fear them) always give ;me a sort of sinking 
in my heart, even when not alone. And as the continual ring- 
ing of the beUs increased my fear, for, as I have said, it 
was the night before All Souls, the devil took the good oppor- 
tunity of making us waste otir thoughts on mere trifles ; for 
when he perceives that we fear him not, he tries to frighten us 
about something else. However, I answered her quietly 
enough : " When this happens, sister, I will think of what I am 
to do ; at present, let me go to sleep.'* As we had had two 



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Agnes and Anne of Tapia. 211 

bad nights, sleep soon quieted our fears, and the arrival of 
onr sisters the next day dispelled them altogether.' 

Amongst the religions whom S. Teresa sent for to Salamanca 
were Anne de Tapia (in religion, Anne of the Incarnation), 
who was appointed Prioress, and Anne of Jesus, who, though 
still in the noviciate, was, on account of her extraordinary 
perfection, made Mistress of Novices. 

Agnes and Anne de Tapia, cousins of S. Teresa, were, it 
will be remembered, of the number of those chosen Mends 
amongst whom 'the idea of the reform was first spoken of in 
S. Teresa's cell on the memorable Feast of the Assumption, 
of the year 1560. The two young sisters had been trained 
by the Saint to the life of perfection ; they were with her at 
the foundation of S. Joseph's at Avila, and never wavered in 
their intention- of embracing her reform. A short time before 
the foundation of the convent at Medina, S. Teresa gave to 
both the habit they had so long desired. A few days 
before that appointed for the clothing, Agnes was taken 
so seriously iU that it seemed but too likely that her holy 
purpose would be frustrated. S. Teresa had recourse to our 
Lord in earnest prayer, and received for answer, ' She will 
not die ; I am keeping her for greater things.' S. Teresa 
took the two sisters with her to the foundation of Medina del 
Campo, where she appointed Agnes Prioress, and Anne 
Sub-Prioress. Agnes of Jesus justified the high opinion 
formed of her wisdom and prudence by S. Teresa, who was 
wont to say that she was better fitted than herself to govern 
a convent. She remained for ten years at the head of that at 
Medina, where she implanted the spirit of S. Joseph's at 
Avila. 

Anne of the Incarnation, who was now removed to Sala- 
manca, was no less distinguished than her holy sister for her 
gift of government. Her work seemed to be less the formation 
of novices than of foundresses, so great was the number of 
religious who were sent forth from Salamanca to govern other 
houses. S. Teresa would often say to her, ' May God reward 
you, my dear daughter, for training such perfect religious 
for me. In order to spare the holy Mother any needless 
anxiety, she never wrote to her about any painftd matter 

p2 



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212 Life of 8. Teresa. 

which she could possibly arrange herself. ' No prioress,* said 
Teresa, * does so much to lighten the burden of my office as 
Anne of the Incarnation. She never writes to me about the 
troubles which God sends her, but suffers them between her- 
self and Him alone.' In the midst of their arduous and 
responsible labours, prayer was the very life of those two 
blessed sisters. During the latter years of their lives the 
patience of both was perfected by intense bodily sufferings ; 
and on the same Easter morning, the one at Salamanca and 
the other at Medina del Campo, they both entered into the 
joy of their Lord. 

The early maturity in perfection attained by Anne of Jesus 
was a prelude of the great work which she was hereafter to 
accomplish for the Order, of which she became the foundress 
both in France and Flanders. 

One of the confessors of our Saint relates, as having heard 
it from herself, that as she stood by the death-bed of one of her 
daughters at Salamanca, she saw our Divine Lord supporting 
the head of the dying sister with His own hands ; and ventur- 
ing, in the fulness of her joy, to ask Him to bestow a similar 
grace upon the rest, * I will grant it,' replied He, ' to all who 
shall strictly observe their rule.' That the nuns of Salamanca 
did thus faithfally keep their rule, we may gather from the 
fact revealed by one of them, who died in 1623, to her com- 
panions, that all those who before that time had died in that 
house were in the eternal enjoyment of God. 

About two months after the foundation at Salamanca, S. 
Teresa was invited by Francis Velasquez, treasurer to the 
Duke of Alva, and Teresa de Layz, his wife, to found another 
convent at Alva de Torrez. The holy Mother was at first 
unwilling to make another foundation in a small town like 
Alva, which was not likely to famish alms sufficient to support 
the nuns, for whose maintenance the endowment of the house 
would therefore be necessary. She asked counsel, as usual, 
of F. Dominic Banez, who advised her by no means to refdse 
the work to which God was calling her, since the endowment 
of the convent need be no impediment to the perfect ob- 
servance of religious poverty by its inmates. In accordance 
with this advice, S. Teresa left Salamanca about the beginning 



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Teresa de Layz. 213 

of tlie year 1571, and established the fotindation in the house 
of Velasqnez on the Feast of the Conversion of S. Panl, 
under the title of the ' Incarnation of our Lord.' By the same 
generous benefactors a suitable monastery and church were 
afterwards erected on the spot, which was to enjoy the 
unspeakable privilege of receiving the mortal remains of our 
glorious Saint, who passed to her reward from thdst convent, 
and was buried in that church. 

The following is one amongst many examples related in th^ 
Chronicles of the Order of the power of the prayers of His 
faithfal spouses over the Heart of Jesus. The Saint was one 
day leaving Alva in haste, when one of the reUgious, named 
Catharine of the Holy Angels, who was suffering under some 
severe internal trial, besought her Mother to stay and speak 
with her. S. Teresa, being unable to delay her departure, 
the sister carried the trouble which she had been unable to 
unfold to her before the Blessed Sacrament ; and in the course 
of half an hour the holy Mother and her companion returned 
on foot, their carriage having broken down on the way. 
Teresa recognised the sweet Providence of our Lord, who thus 
vouchsafes to console His children, and said, as she entered 
the cloister, ' Send me Catharine of the Holy Angels, for it is 
she who has caused me to return.' 

The circumstances which led to the foundation of the house 
at Alva bore singular marks of providential guidance. The 
pious founders had for many years been praying in vain for 
children. Teresa de Layz, who had a special devotion to the 
Apostle S. Andrew, addressed her request particularly to 
him. One day she heard a voice sayiag to her, ' Wish not for 
children, or thou wilt lose thy soul.* The good woman, 
conscious that her one motive for desiring children was that 
she might leave them behind her to praise God in her place, 
desisted not from her petition, saying to herself, ' My desire 
for children is for so good an end that I do not see how I can 
be condemned for it.' A vision was next vouchsafed to her 
to teach her the same lesson. She saw (whether sleeping or 
waking she knew not) a house, in the courtyard of which was 
a well under a corridor ; near it was a verdant meadow fall 
of beautiftd flowers. By the well stood the Apostle S. 



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214 Life of 8. Teresa. 

Andrew, who, pointing to the flowers, said to her, * These are 
far holier children than those for whom thou art longing.' 
Her long-cherished desire vanished from that moment from 
her heart, and she began to consult with her husband as to 
the foundation of a convent of nuns. 

A short time afterwards Velasquez removed from Salamanca, 
where he at that time resided, to fill the office of treasurer to 
the Duke of Alva. When his wife went with him to take 
possession of the house which he had purchased at Alva, to 
*her astonishment she recognised the very place which she 
had seen in her vision. There was the court, the well, the 
corridor, everything in fact which she had seen, except the 
flowery meadow and the Apostle S. Andrew. Seeing the 
hand of God visibly manifested here, Velasquez and Teresa 
determined to place their convent on that spot, and to this 
end purchased several adjacent houses. 

The pious founders were very anxious that the future 
monastery should belong to some austere and penitential 
Institute, and, having long sought for such in vain, the devil 
had nearly persuaded them that they had made a mistake, and 
that they would do far better to arrange a marriage between 
the nephew of the husband and the niece of the wife, to 
make them the heirs of the principal part of their wealth, and 
leave the rest in alms for the benefit of their souls. 

Not a fortnight after this arrangement had been made, the 
intended bridegroom was carried off by a sudden illness, 
before the solemnization of the marriage. 

Velasquez and his wife saw the hand of the Lord in this 
chastisement, resumed their former intention, and, by the 
advice of a holy Franciscan friar, who made known to them 
the wonderful reform efiected in the Order of Mount Carmel 
by S. Teresa, they wrote to beg her to accept the foundation. 

Having left her daughters well established at Alva, the 
holy Mother returned to Salamanca, where her presence was 
still greatly needed. 

Before she entered the convent, she remained, by the 
conmiand of the F. Provincial, for some days in the palace of 
the Count de Monte Rey, where she healed two sick persons, 
the one by her touch, the other (a young daughter of the 



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Visit of Peter Hernandez to S. Joseph's at Avila. 215 

Count) by her prayers. Having remained for a short time at 
Salamanca, she proceeded to Medina del Campo to be present 
at the election of the new Prioress. 

The Father Provincial was anxious that the choice of the 
Chapter should fall on a religious, named Teresa de Quesada, 
formerly a nun of the Incarnation at Avila. The community, 
being weU aware of her unfitness for the office, with the 
approbation of the Saint, re-elected Agnes of Jesus, who had 
been appointed Prioress at the foundation of the house, and 
of whose great sanctity and remarkable gift of government 
mention has been already made. The Provincial, though a 
prudent and religious man, was greatly disturbed and angered 
at the disregard paid to his recommendation, which he pro- 
bably attributed to partiality on the part of Teresa for a 
kinswoman of her own. He commanded her, on pain of ex- 
communication, to retire immediately with the newly-elected 
Prioress to Avila, and committed the government of the house 
to Teresa de Quesada. The holy Mother, regardless of the 
tears of her daughters, or of the evils which she foresaw from 
the choice of the Provincial, instantly obeyed his command, 
though no better means of transport could be obtained for 
herself and her companion than two mules belonging to a 
water-carrier. She returned to her beloved monastery of S. 
Joseph in great peace and contentment, and a short time 
afterwards received a visit there from the Apostolic Visitor, 
Peter Hernandez, who was most desirous to become acquainted 
with the mother of those holy religious whom he so highly 
esteemed. 

Hernandez had already heard the praises of Teresa from 
the lips of his brother in religion, Father Dominic Baiiez, but 
it was not till he saw her himself that he became convinced 
that there was no exaggeration in the report which he had 
received. He was henceforth accustomed to say that the 
Mother Teresa was a wonderftij woman, and that she had 
shown the world that it was not impossible even for her 
feeble sex to attain to the most sublime degree of evangelical 
perfection. 

Hernandez next proceeded, on his visitation, to Medina 
del Campo, where he heard of the disturbance occasioned by 



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216 Life of S. Teresa. 

the Provincial's choice of Teresa de Quesada, the impmdence 
of which she had now manifested herself; for, weary of the 
primitive rule, of her office, her subjects and herself, she 
resigned her charge, and returned to the Convent of the 
Incarnation, where she had been professed. The Father 
Visitor could think of no fitter means of settling the matter 
than the election of the holy Mother as arbitress, which was 
carried by the unanimous votes of the religious. Teresa, 
knowing how necessary her presence was at Medina, accepted 
the office, though sorely against her will. On her journey 
from Avila, she arrived with her companions at nightfall, on 
the banks of a river ; it was so dark that the different mem- 
bers of the party could hardly see each other ; and everyone 
shrank from attempting the passage till reassured by the 
cheering words of their Mother. * We cannot remain here all 
night,' she said, 'in the open air; come, let us pass over, 
recommending ourselves to God; I will go first.' The words 
were no sooner said, than a Hght, like that of a torch, appeared 
at a little distance, and continued to shine until the whole 
party had passed the perilous ford. Great was the joy of the 
nuns of Medina at the sight of their holy Mother, who, they 
felt assured, would soon set in order all their affairs, spiritual 
and temporal. They were not, however, to enjoy her presence 
long, for a far harder task awaited her elsewhere. 



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F. Hernandez visits the Convent of the Incarnation. 217 



CHAPTER XVI. 
1571-1574 

8. TEBESA IS APPOINTED PKEOBESS OF THE CONVENT OF THE 
INCARNATION AT AVTLA — OPPOSITION ON THE PART OF THE 
NUNS OVERCOME BY HER GENTLENESS AND FIRMNESS — 
WONDERFITL RENOVATION OF THE SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL 
STATE OP THE COMMUNITY — VISION OP OUR B. LADY — ^AND OP 
OUR DIVINE LORD — HE ESPOUSES THE SAINT TO HIMSELF — 
EXTRACT FROM THE INTERIOR CASTLE — THE DISCALCED FRIARS 
OBTAIN A FOOTING IN ANDALUSIA — THE SAINT VISITS SALA- 
MANCA — ^LETTER TO HER SISTER CONCERNING THE EXPECTED 
RETURN OF THEIR BROTHER LAURENCE — FOUNDATION AT 
SEGOVIA, AND REMOVAL THITHER OF THE NUNS FROM PAS- 
TRANA — ^VISION OP S. ALBERT. 

Two or three montlis after his visitation of Medina, Father 
Hernandez proceeded to Avila to visit the Convent of the In- 
carnation. He soon perceived the extreme necessity in which 
that house then stood of an experienced superioress to arrange 
its temporal affairs, and to revive the practice of regular 
observance. The convent had fallen into such great penury, 
that the nuns were destitute of the necessary means of sup- 
port. The expenditure of the house so far exceeded its 
revenues, that many of the religious had determiued to ask 
permission of their superiors to return to their homes, where 
they might at least be sure of their daily bread. 

That such an idea should have been entertained for a 
moment by members of a community which had once 
numbered amongst its religious Teresa of Jesus, Jane Suarez, 
and the two blessed sisters, Agnes of Jesus, and Anne of the 
Incarnation, evinces a lamentable state of declension. The 
Visitor, compassionating the deplorable spiritual and tempo- 



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218 Life of 8. Teresa. 

ral condition of this once higUy-esteemed monastery, felt that 
the fittest remedy which he conld apply to it wonld be the 
appointment of a superioress capable of remedying the evil. 

With the consent and approbation, therefore, of the Supe- 
riors of the Order, he nominated Teresa Prioress of the Incar- 
nation, that, by the example of her sanctity, she might raise 
the spiritual tone of the house, and by her prudence and ex- 
traordinary ability in matters of business, set in order their 
temporal affairs. 

Great was the trouble of the holy Mother when she received 
this obedience, which broke in upon the peace and tranquil- 
lity which she was enjoying with her children. She was well 
aware that the various houses so lately founded still stood in 
need of her counsels and her presence ; her loving heart was 
wrung too at the thought of the sorrow of her children at S. 
Joseph's. And, in addition to her exceeding aversion to hold- 
ing office or authority, she foresaw what would be the difficulty 
of governing nuns who professed a relaxed rule, and had now 
ceased to practise even the rule which they professed. She 
foresaw that every reasonable command would be accounted an 
extravagance; and that every endeavour to restore regular 
observance would be suspected as an attempt to introduce the 
practices of the reform. 

In the anguish of her heart, she had recourse to her Divine 
Spouse, beseeching Him to make known to her His will, and 
to strengthen her to ftilfil it. 

He was not deaf to her entreaty. 

' As I was praying one day,' says she, ' very fervently for a 
brother of mine, who was at the time in a position which I 
feared would prove perilous to his salvation, I said : "0 Lord, 
if I were to see a brother of Thine in such peril, what would 
I not do to help him ! " And, indeed, it seemed to me, as I 
spoke, that I should count no labour or suffering too great for 
such an end. But our Lord said to me : " Oh ! my daughter, 
my daughter, the nuns of the Incarnation are my sisters, and 
thou delayest to help them ! Now take courage, and consider 
that this is My will. Thou will not find the office so difficult 
as it now seems to thee ; and whereas thou thinkest that the 
convents of the reform will suffer loss by thy absence, believe 



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A Difficult Obedience. 219 

Me tliat by obeying Me thou wilt bring benefit to tbem all. 
Resist no longer, for I am all powerful." ' 

The fears of the Saint vanished at the words of our Lord, 
and she immediately prepared to obey the Father Visitor. On 
ter arrival at Avila, she went first to her own Convent of S. 
Joseph's, both in order to console her children for her tem- 
porary absence from them, and to avoid the disturbance which 
she foresaw would arise on her sudden arrival amongst the 
religious of the Incarnation. 

To judge by the excitement occasioned there by the news of 
her election, no easy task awaited her amongst her former 
sisters in religion. The nuns exclaimed loudly against the 
tyrannical measure of the Visitor in imposing a Superioress 
upon them against their own consent. They were fcdly per- 
suaded that the new Prioress intended to force upon them the 
rule of the discalced Carmelites, a rule which they had 
never professed, nor ever intended to profess. The more in- 
subordinate and lax members of the community dreaded her 
coming, in the conviction that she would close the doors at 
the fitting hour, restrict their visits to the parlour, and put a 
stop to that free intercourse with seculars which had led to so 
many abuses. In short, the nuns of the Incarnation, some 
from one reason and some from another, were fcdly determined 
not to accept the new Prioress, and to oppose her entrance by 
every means in their power. To this end some of them were 
not ashamed to ask assistance fyom certain gentlemen of Avila, 
who, to the no small reproach of the Gity of Knights, were not 
ashamed to promise it. The holy Mother was not ignorant of 
all these proceedings ; but strong in her love of sufferings, and 
stronger still in her faith in the promise of her Lord, that 
great benefits should arise from her appointment, she prepared 
with calm courage for her dif&cult enterprise. She took the 
precaution, in case of any attempt being made to interfere 
with her own practice of the primitive rule, during her govern- 
ment of the convent, formally to renew her profession of it, 
and to renounce all mitigations, in the presence of the 
two priests, Graspar Daza and Julian of Avila. Her next step 
was to direct that all the pensioners who were receiving their 
education in the convent should be immediately dismissed, lest 



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220 Life of S. Teresa. 

they shotild be scandalised by the dissension and conftision 
which she foresaw would arise on her arrival. 

Strange to say, notwithstanding the determination of the 
nnns to resist her authority, and the decrease of their already 
scanty revenues which must ensue, she was immediately 
obeyed. The Saint entered the Convent of the Incarnation in 
the month of October 1571, accompanied by the Father Pro- 
vincial, Angelo de Salazar, who had been recently reappointed 
to that office, and another religious of the Order. They came 
by the direction of the Apostolic Visitor, who apprehended 
some opposition from the nuns, who in fact were awaiting 
their new Prioress with a mind rather to insult than to obey 
her. 

The Saint entered the house, holding in her hand an image 
of her beloved Patron, S. Joseph, which she was accustomed to 
carry with her to all her foundations. The Father Provincial 
gave immediate orders that aU the religious should assemble 
in the outer chapel in Chapter. As soon as they were 
collected together, he read to them the patent of election from 
the Apostolical Visitor and the heads of the Provincial 
Chapter, appointing to the office of Prioress the Mother 
Teresa of Jesus there present. The words were no sooner 
uttered, than such a storm arose of protestations, reproaches, 
exclamations and accusations, as if the unwelcome patent 
had been the death warrant of the community. The poor 
Father Provincial was fairly bewildered. Happily there were 
a few wise virgins amidst this company of distracted women. 
One of them, named Catherine de Castro, made her voice 
heard above the storm*. ' We love her, we choose her,* said 
she, *Te Deum laudamus.' Other voices now joined that of 
Catherine ; and, regardless of the outcry, these few faithfiil 
rehgious raised the processional cross, and went forth to meet 
their new Mother. The other party resisted her entrance, so 
that the Father Provincial, with the help of his companion, 
was at last obliged to drag her by main force within the enclo- 
sure. The scene which followed defies description ; one party, 
according to custom, chanting the Te Deum ; the other 
giving vent to every term of hatred and contempt against their 
Prioress and against those who had intruded her within their 



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Her First Chapter. 221 

walls. The Provincial could no longer restrain his indigna- 
tion ; he reproved, threatened, but all in vain : he had no 
power to stem the tumult. Probably he was now convinced, 
by the evidence of his dwn eyes and ears, of the necessity of a 
reform. There was but one peaceful spot in this scene of 
wild confosion ; it was where Teresa knelt before the Blessed 
Sacrament, humbly beseeching her Beloved to calm the furious 
winds and hush the stormy sea. Then she arose and turned 
to speak to the nuns, declaring that she greatly pitied them 
for having such a Prioress placed over them ; she next 
addressed the Provincial, excusing the excitement of his 
subjects on the ground of her own un worthiness. Some of 
the sisters had fainted away in the tumult of their feelings, 
and, on the Saint gently touching them with her hand, they 
immediately recovered consciousness. 

The irresistible power of meekness calmed these perturbed 
spirits for awhile ; but Teresa was well aware that there was 
an under current of discontent ready to burst forth on the first 
opportunity. She summoned her first Chapter. * Now is the 
time,' said the malcontents, ' for the reformer to declare herself ; 
now she will throw ofi* the mask, declaim against abuses, en- 
deavour to introduce new customs, and attempt to deprive us of 
our just Hberties.' They assembled, therefore, with a full de- 
termination to contradict her will and oppose her commands. 
As they entered the chapter-room, however, a sight met their 
eyes which quieted them in a moment. In the place of the 
Prioress stood a beautiful statue of our Blessed Lady, holding 
in her hands the keys of the convent ; and, in the place of the 
Sub-Prioress, an image of S. Joseph. The first glance of every 
nun, as she entered the room, was at the seat of the detested 
Prioress ; and beholding in her place the Great Mother and 
Protectress of their Order, they were seized, as one of them 
afterwards confessed, with terror and remorse. 

When the religious had taken their places, the holy Prioress 
chose for herself a low stool at the foot of our Lady's image, 
and addressed to them the following words, which are found 
in the appendix to her letters : — 

* My ladiesi mothers, and sisters, — ^By the obedience which I 
owe to my superiors, our Lord has been pleased to send me 



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222 Life of S. Teresa. 

back to this house to exercise the office of Prioress. I never 
thought of such a dignity, because I knew I was far from 
deserving it. I was grieved at my election, both because a 
charge was thus given to me the duties of which I am unequal 
to fulfil ; and also because you have been deprived of the right 
of election which belongs to you, so that a Prioress has been 
imposed upon you against your own will and pleasure — a 
Prioress, too, who would think she had done great things 
could she only learn from the least amongst you the virtues 
which are practised in this house. I come to serve and to 
please you in every way I can. And I hope our Lord will 
assist me herein. With regard to everything else, the least 
amongst you is able to teach and correct me. You must then, 
my dear mothers and sisters, let me know what I can do for 
each one of you, for I shall be most willing to do what you 
ask, even were it to shed my blood for you. I am a daughter of 
this house, and your sister. I know the disposition and wants 
of all the religious here, or at least of the greater part of them. 
You have no reason, then, to fear being under the government 
of one who is wholly yours by so many titles. And though 
I have till now Uved amongst my discalced nuns, and have 
been their Prioress, nevertheless I hope, through the goodness 
of our Lord, to be able to govern those who are not discalced. 
My desire is that we may serve the Lord with sweetness and 
humihty, and that through our love of Him, to whom we are 
so much indebted, we may perform what our rules and con- 
stitutions command. I know our weakness is great ; but if 
we cannot attain to the exact fulfilment of all our obligations, 
let us at least cherish an ardent desire to fulfil them. Our Lord 
is compassionate, and He will give us strength, by little and 
little, to carry those desires and intentions into effect.' 

There was not a heart among the nuns of the Incarnation 
which did not melt at the words of the Saint, and at the 
touching sight of the sacred image of Mary standing in the 
place of their Prioress. They all submitted at once, and with 
their whole heart, to their legitimate Superioress, and to what- 
ever reform she should see fit to introduce. The visible 
sanctity of Teresa, and the tender affection which she showed 
to all her subjects without distinction, did much to confirm 



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Spiritual and Temporal Renovation. 223 

their good dispositions ; but far more was effected by the 
fervour of her prayers. She tells us herself that, on the 
Octave of Pentecost, our Lord made known to her that the 
souls in that house should advance more and more in perfection, 
and it was afberwards revealed to her that the praises which 
they offered to Grod were counted worthy of being presented to 
Him by the hands of Mary. 

Nor was it only spiritual blessings which Teresa brought 
with her, when she entered that house in company with S. 
Joseph ; he provided also for their urgent temporal necessities. 
In the distribution of these things also the holy Mother found 
means to evince her tender considerateness, and thus, by win- 
ning the hearts of the sisters to herself, to gain their souls for 
Grod. In a letter written to her brother Laurence in the pre- 
ceding year, she says : ' You must know that since our Lord 
has employed me in the foundation of these houses of His, I 
have become such a woman of business that I know a little of 
everything.' Those amongst the religious of the Incarnation 
who had been accustomed to look upon the Saint as a visionary 
enthusiast, or, at best, an abstracted and austere contemplative, 
were no less astonished than touched by the ready preseilce of 
mind and minute solicitude with which she regulated the 
complicated affairs of the community, and supplied the most 
trifling wants of each of its members. For one, she provided 
a tunic ; for another, a habit ; carefully assigning to each 
whatever she stood in need of. Our Lord blessed the Convent 
of the Incarnation, as He had blessed the houses of Laban and 
of Potiphar, for the sake of His servants Jacob and Joseph ; 
and the minds of the religious were soon relieved from the 
wearing anxiety concerning temporal matters, which had been 
one of their manifold causes of distraction. 

Teresa sent to Valladolid for sister Isabella of the Cross, to 
aid her in the ofl&ce of Sub-Prioress ; and a few days after the 
first Chapter had been held, some of those who had been for- 
merly most disaffected, said to the holy Mother with all sin- 
cority and good will : * Would it not be well, dear Mother, that 
your Reverence should take possession of the keys of the turns 
and of the parlours, and assign the various offices of the house 
to such and such of the sisters ? ' naming the very persons. 



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224 Life of S. Teresa. 

whom Teresa had, in her own mind, fixed upon for those 
employments. Keeping her previous intention to herself, the 
holy Mother answered : * Since such is your wish, my good 
mothers, by all means let it be so.' She was thus enabled to 
remove from the parlour and the grate those whose youth or 
indiscretion unfitted them for such a charge, and to confer the 
various offices of the house upon those most worthy to fill 
them, without incurring the odium of displacing the former 
officials. 

The evil spirit had been cast out of the Convent of the In- 
carnation, but he was still busy among the secular friends of 
the nuns. One of them, especially, a gentleman of one of the 
first families of Avila, finding that his frequent visits to the 
parlour would no longer be permitted, sent for the Prioress and 
addressed her in terms of great insolence and violence. Teresa 
heard him with undisturbed patience and humility, and, when 
he had finished, answered him in a tone which caused the 
proud man to quail before her, and to report to his companions 
in the city that ' the Mother Teresa was not to be trifled with,' 
and that they had better make an end of their visits to the In- 
carnation. 

The next and the greatest benefit which Teresa conferred 
upon that convent was the procuring for it a saintly confessor 
in the person of F. John of the Cross, who, by the command 
of the Visitor Apostolic, left Pastrana to undertake the spiri- 
tual direction of the nuns. The parlour is still shown in that 
convent where the two Saints were found by one of the 
religious raised in ecstasy some considerable distance fix^m the 
ground. This occurred on the Feast of the Blessed Trinity, 
when S. John had been discoursing to the Saint, as she knelt 
at his feet, on that Divine mystery. The same wonderfdl fact 
happened more than once in their conversations, so that Teresa 
was wont to say that she ' coxddnot speak of Grod with F. John 
of the Cross, because he was so fall of Divine love, that he fell 
into raptures himself, and caused everyone who conversed with 
him to do the same. Under such a Superioress and such a Di- 
rector, the nuns of the Incarnation attained to so high a degree 
of perfection, as to diJffer in habit only from their sisters of the 
reform. This had been the fruit of the patience, as well as of 



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Olorioua Vision of the Mother of Ood. 225 

the faith and charity of the Saint. An ancient and zealous 
religious came to her one day to complain of the &ilings of 
some of her companions. * Be not troubled, sister,' said she 
gently, * be not troubled, for I can assure you that there are in 
this houise more than fourteen most holy souls, for whose sake 
God looks upon it with complacency. Had there been as 
many at the time of the flood, the world would not have been 
destroyed.' S. .Teresa herself attributed this change entirely 
to the intervention of the Blessed Virgin. In a letter to DoSa 
Mary of Mendoza, written in the March of this year, she says 
' assuredly there are here some great servants of God, and, 
thanks to my Prioress ' (B. V. M.), ' there is a great improve- 
ment in all.' 

In the additions to her Hfe S. Teresa thus relates our Blessed 
Lady's acceptance of the office committed to her by her faith- 
fdl love. ' On the vigil of S. Sebastian, in the first year that 
I was Prioress of the Incarnation, while we were chanting the 
Salve Begma, 1 saw the Mother of Gx>d, surrounded by a great 
multitude of angels, approach the stall of the Prioress, which 
was occupied by a statue of our Lady of Mount Carmel. The 
image disappeared from my eyes, and our Blessed Mother took 
its place. I remained in ecstasy during the whole time of the 
Salve, 1 saw a great number of Angels ranged above the stalls 
in the choir. The Blessed Virgin said to me, * Thou hast done 
weU to place me here. I will be present at the praises sung 
by the religious of this convent in honour of my Son, and will 
offer them to Him.' 

In the second year of her government of the Convent of the 
Incam$ition, our Divine Lord vouchsafed to the Saint that 
marvellous vision in which He espoused her to Himself. ' On 
the octave of S. Martin,' says she, ' Father John of the Cross, 
when he gave me Holy Communion, divided the sacred par- 
ticle between me and one of the sisters. It came into my mind 
that he did it to mortify me, because I had told hinri that I 
Hked always to receive a large host, though I knew very well 
that I gained nothing by it, since our Lord is wholly contained 
in the smallest particle. Then our Lord said to me : " Fear 
not, my child, that anything can ever separate Thee from me ; " 
and showing Himself to me in the very interior of my soul, 

Q 



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226 Life of 8. Teresa. 

by a sensible vision, as He bad often done before, He gave me 
His rigbt band, and said to me, *' Bebold ibis nail ; it is the 
sign and tbe pledge tbat from tbis day fortb tbon sbalt be My 
spouse ; bitberto tbon bast not deserved tbis name ; bencefortb 
tbon sbalt take care of My bononr ; not only bebolding in Me 
tby Creator, tby King and tby God, but regarding tbyself as 
my veritable spouse. From tbis moment My bonour is tbine, 
and tby bonour is Mine." So powerful was tbe effect of this 
grace tbat, in tbe boly transport witb wbicb I was carried 
away, I said to my Divine Master : " O Lord, eitber strengthen 
my weakness, or confer not upon me a favour, under tbe excess 
of wbicb my feeble nature sinks." I have felt ever since tbe 
admirable effects of tbis vision, to my exceeding shame and 
confusion, who have done nothing to show my gratitude for so 
inestimable a blessing.' In the conclusion of the book of the 
Interior Castle^ S. Teresa treats of tbe ineffable mystery of these 
spiritual espousals. * All tbat I can speak of it,' says she, ' is 
tbat our Lord makes known in one moment to tbe soul what 
is tbe glory of Heaven, in a manner far more sublime than can 
be expressed by any vision, or any other spiritual favour. If 
I may so express myself, tbat which may be called the spi/rib of 
the soul, becomes one thing with God. That great God Who 
is a Spirit, in order to show us how much He loves us, has thus 
been pleased to give to certain souls an experience of the ex- 
tent of that love ; and tbis, in order to excite us to give Him 
unceasing praise for these marvels of His grace. He is pleased 
thus to unite His infinite Majesty to a feeble creature in such 
an inseparable union as is figured by tbe indissoluble bond of 
tbe Sacrament of marriage. Perhaps by these words : He who 
is united to Ood is one spirit with Hvm, S. Paul intended to de- 
scribe tbat mystical marriage which unites tbe soul inseparably 
witb God. . . . Tbe soul which has attained to this state 
never departs from tbat centre, where she is at rest with Gt)d ; 
neither is her peace ever disturbed, for she receives it from Him, 
Who gave it to His Apostles when they were gathered 
together in His name. I have often thought tbat those words 
of our Lord to His disciples : Peace he with you ; and those 
wbicb He spoke to Magdalen : Oo vn peace, must have an ef- 
fect far beyond what we understand by them. As with God, 



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The Espousals to our Divine Lord. 227 

to speak is to do, these words, when addressed to souls duly 
prepared, doubtless deliver them from the trammels of the 
body, that so their spiritual nature may be capable of that ce- 
lestial union with the uncreated Spirit. It is certain that when, 
for the love of God, we empty our souls of all affection for 
creatures, that great God immediately fills them with Himself. 
Therefore did our Lord Jesus Christ ask of the Eternal Father 
for His apostles : that they might he one, and, that as His Father 
is in Hvm, and He in His Father, so they might he one m His 
Father and in Hvm, What love, my sisters, can surpass this 
love ? and what prevents us from sharing it, since our Adorable 
Saviour adds : And I pray not for them alone, hut for them also 
who shall helieve in Me through their word ... J am in them. 
Oh ! how true are these words ; and how well does that soul 
understand them who has seen them accomplished in herself 
by this spiritual marriage ! O my daughters, how well should 
we all understand them, if we did not render ourselves un- 
worthy of thein by our own fault, for the words of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, our King and God, are infaUible ! . . . When 
the soul has attained to this dwelling, in which Gt)d abides, 
she may be considered as the heaven of heavens, wherein He 
hath set up His throne ; for as that centre moves not with the 
motion of the other heavens, so the soul is no longer subject 
to the movements which it formerly received from the impulses 
of its imagination and its various powers ; so that they can 
neither harm it nor disturb its peace. 

* But it must not be supposed that when God has vouchsafed 
so great a favour to any soul, it is thereby assured of its sal- 
vation, and certain never to fall. When I speak of its security, 
I mean only so long as our Lord keeps His hand upon it, and 
as it refrains from offending Him. I know at least that the 
person of whom I am speaking, and who some years* ago was 
raised to this state, does not account herself secure ; on the con- 
trary, she walks with greater fear than before ; and more care- 
frdly avoids the slightest offence against God. She has the 
most ardent desire to labour for His service, but she is grieved 

* The Saint herself. She had received this grace in November 1672, 
and wrote these lines in November 1577. 

o 2 



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228 Life of 8. Teresa. 

and ashamed to be able to do so little for Hitti who has done 
so much for her. 

* This inability is no small cross ; nay, it is the severest pe- 
nance which she can endure. ... I have said that, by this mystic 
alliance, the sonl lives in Jesus Christ, and Jesns Christ lives 
in the soul. iNow these are, as far as I can understand them, 
the effects of this new life. The first is such a total forgetfdl- 
ness of self, that it seems as if that soul had no longer any be- 
ing, because so complete is the transformation which has taken 
place within it, that it no longer knows itself. That soul 
thinks neither of life, nor honour, nor even of the happiness of 
heaven, but is wholly occupied in promoting the glory of Grod. 

' In the life of such a person we see the faithfiil accomplish- 
ment of the words once spoken to her by our Lord : " Occupy 
thyself with My interests, and I will take care of thine." 
Without sohcitude as to what may befall her, she lives in such 
entire forgetfolness of self, that she seems to have no longer 
any being of her own, and desires to be nothing, except so far 
as she may be able to increase, though in the smallest degree, 
the honour and glory of Grod, for which she would gladly lay 
down her Hfe. 

^ Do not imagine, however, that such a person ceases to eat 
or sleep, or neglects faithfally to fdlfil all the obligations of her 
state. What I have said relates only to her interior. As to 
exterior works, let one word suffice ; far fix>m fearing them, 
her only trouble is to see that all which her strength permits 
her to do for God is a mere nothing. No power on earth 
could hinder her from performing to the utmost limit of her 
strength, whatever she sees to be for the service of our Lord. 

' The second effect of this Hfe in Jesus Christ is a great de- 
sire for suffering ; a desire, however, which is free from all 
disquietude. So ardently do these souls long for the accom- 
plishment of the will of God in them, that they are equally- 
satisfied with whatever He is pleased to appoint. Thus, if He 
wills that they should suffer, they are very glad of it ; if He 
-wills it not, they are not troubled as once they were wont to 
be. K these souls should suffer persecution, they experience 
great interior joy, and a peace far more profound than they 
even felt before. Far from cherishing a shadow of resentment 



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Marvdhua Effects of this Divine Union. 229 

against those who injure, or desire to injure them, they love 
them with a specially tender affection. They are deeply moved 
if they see them in any aflBliction, and there is nothing which 
they would not do to alleviate their pain. They recommend 
them heartily to God ; nay, they would willingly consent to 
be deprived of some of the graces which they have received, 
and to see them transferred to these persons, if so they might 
be brought to desist from offending their Divine Master. But 
that which most amazes me in these souls, is that ardently 
desiring death, in order to enjoy the presence of our Lord, and 
accounting the prolongation of this exile a cruel martyrdom ; 
yet so intense is their desire to serve Him, to cause some to 
bless His name, to be useful to some soul, that far from sighing 
for death, they would fain live for many long years, and in the 
midst of the greatest sufferings ; too happy if at this price, 
they could procure for their Divine Master, even in the least 
possible thing, a particle of the praise which He deserves. 
Though they should have a certainty of going straight from 
the prison of the body to enjoy the vision of God, and though 
their mind were fiUed with the thought of the glory of the 
blessed, they would be moved by none of these things, because 
they desire neither that vision nor that glory. Their glory is 
to be able to do something for their crucified Lord, especially 
when they consider how many there are who offend Him, and 
how few who, regardless of themselves, look simply to His 
honour. 

' Do not suppose, my daughters, that the souls who have 
attained to this close union with God are free from imper- 
fections, or even from indeliberate venial sins. Our Lord 
gives them especial grace to preserve them from deliberately 
offending Him, even venially. As to mortal sins, consciously 
committed, they are exempt from them ; still they are never 
without fear, especially when they see so many souls fall into 
perdition, and read in Holy Scripture of the fall of those who 
had been most favoured by God, such as David and Solomon, 
Therefore, my sisters, let the one among you who thinks she 
has the greatest ground for security, stand most in fear, ac- 
cording to the words of David : Blessed is the man whofeareth 
the Lord. 



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230 Life of 8. Teresa. 

* May our Divine Master ever keep us ! Let ns earnestly ask 
this grace of Him, that we may never offend Him : this is the 
greatest assurance which we can have in this hfe. 

* We are not to imagine that our Lord's design in admitting 
a soul to this union with Him self is to overwhelm her with joy 
and consolation ; for the most signal favour which Grod can 
bestow upon us, is to make our life like to the life of His Son 
on earth. Therefore, I hold it for certain that our Lord 
bestows upon us these graces in order to strengthen our weak- 
ness, and to enable us, after His own example, to endure great 
sufferings. Those who are nearest to Him, as His Blessed 
Mother and His glorious Apostles, have had most to suffer. 

* Whence did S. Paul derive strength for his excessive 
labours ? We see clearly in him the effect of those visions, and 
of that contemplation, which come from Qt)d, and not from a 
disordered imagination, or from the artifices of the spirit of 
darkness. After having received such great favours from on 
high, did he go and hide himself to enjoy in sweet repose the 
consolations which inundated his soul ? On the contrary, he 
passed his days in the labour of the Apostolate, and his nights 
in toiling for his daily bread. 

. ' Who can say to what a degree a soul, in whom the Lord 
dwells in this especial manner, forgets her own repose ; how 
little honours touch her, how far she is from desiring the 
smallest measure of esteem ! Walking continually hand in 
hand with her heavenly Bridegroom, how can she remember 
herself? Her sole thought is to please Him, and to find 
means whereby to show Him. her love. 

* This, my daughters, is the end of prayer, and the one end of 
this spiritual marriage is the continual production of works 
for the glory of Grod. Works, as I have already said, are the 
surest proof of the reality of this Divine favour. 

* The company in which the soul now dwells gives her 
strength far greater than she ever had before. K, in the 
words of David, we become holy with the holy^ who can doubt 
that the soul which has become one with the Gk)d of strength, 
by that supreme union of spirit with spirit, participates in 
His strength? Thence it is that the Saiuts drank in that 
courage which enabled them to suffer and to die for God. 



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Exterior Activity with intei^ior Repose. 231 

' And let us also, my sisters, seek to enkindle within ns this 
great zeal for the glory of God. Let ns seek in the holy 
exercise of prayer, not spiritual sweetness, but apostolic 
strength for the service of our Divine Spouse. Do you know 
what it is that He desires most ardently of us ? That our 
zeal, by every means within our reach, may strive to bring 
back souls to Him, that those souls may be saved, and may 
sing His praises throughout eternity.* 

We have extracted these passages not only for their ex- 
ceeding beauty and sublimity, and the practical instruction 
they contain even for souls which will never attain this state 
of perfect union with God until they have been prepared for 
it by the fire of Purgatory ; our chief reason for introducing 
them here is to present another picture of the Saint's interior 
life, painted by her own hand at a period when she had 
attained a union with her Divine Spouse, only lower than that 
conferred by the Beatific vision. Let us keep this picture 
before us, as we follow her through the continually increasing 
labours, trials, and perplexities of the remaining ten years of 
her Hfe ; the fightings without, the fears within ; the perse- 
cution of the good who were against her ; the vacillation, or 
the rashness, or the obstinacy, or the other imperfections of 
the good who were on her side; the unceasing and distracting 
occupations, which might have seemed to render recollection 
impossible; the continual drag, and weary up-hill struggle, 
with languor and ill-health and increasing age ; and we shall in 
some small measure realize the combination of perfect interior 
repose, with incessant exterior activity, which marked the 
last ten years of the life of Teresa of Jesus. 

From this period, she tells us, her ecstasies and raptures 
became less frequent, and scarcely ever occurred in public. 
She had ever been accustomed to speak of them as weaknesses^ 
and now she shows us how here, as always, humility is truth. 
* Formerly,' says she, *a pious hymn, the first words of a 
sermon, or the sight of a holy picture, was enough to throw 
that soul into a rapture. Now, whether it be that she has 
found the place of her repose ; whether, after having seen so 
many wonders in that abode, she is no longer astonished at 
anytiiing ; whether it be that her solitude has ceased in the 



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232 Life of 8. Teresa. 

company of her Divine Spouse ; or, for some other reason 
unknown to me, our Lord has no sooner received her into 
this dwelling, and shown her its beauties, than she loses thaA 
great weakness which was so paini^ and so habitnal with 
her. This change perhaps arises from onr Lord having so 
strengthened and enlarged that sonl, as to render it capable of 
receiving such great fjavonrs without being overwhelmed by 
them.* 

In the beginning of the year 1561, our Lord had said to His 
servant Teresa, 'Thou shalt see in thy lifetime a great increase 
of the Order of my Mother.' It might have seemed that her 
appointment to be Prioress of the Incarnation would interfere 
with the fulfilment of this promise, but our Lord kept His 
word; the reform continued to increase. In the year 1571 
the discalced fathers founded a convent on the highest point 
of the Alto Mira, which divides the province of Toledo from 
from that of Cuen9a. In the following year they penetrated 
into Andalusia, where the Convent of the Immaculate 
Conception at S. Juan a Porto, formerly occupied by friars 
of the mitigation, was assigned to them. 

The progress of the reform at this time doubtless owed 
much to the prayers of the holy Pope, S. Pius V., who died 
on May 1,1572, and appeared to our Saint shortly after his 
decease, encouraging her to prosecute her glorious work, and 
promising her his assistance. 

The fathers were invited into Andalusia by the Apostolic 
Visitor, Francis de Vargas, who showed himself no less 
zealous, and (as it would seem) somewhat less prudent, in 
protecting the reform, than the Visitor of Castile. 

After Teresa had been for two years Prioress of Jihe 
Incarnation, she was sent by P. Hernandez to arrange 
the affairs of the community of Salamanca, which she had 
been obhged reluctantly to leave still unprovided with a 
proper house. After much difficulty and delay, one was 
found and prepared, and possession was to be taken on 
Michaelmas-day, when it appeared that the chapel, which 
had been hastily finished, let in the rain at all sides. ' I tell 
you, daughters,' says the Saint, ' that on this day I found my- 
self very imperfect, for notice having been given of the opening 



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The Power of her Prayers. 233 

of the chttrcli, I knew not what to do but to lament, and I 
begged onr Lord, as if complaining, either not to command 
me to undertake such works, or to provide a remedy for this 
necessity. The good man, Nicolas Guttierez, with his usual 
cheer^ilness, as if nothing at all was the matter, told me very 
calmly not to trouble myself so much, for that God would pro- 
vide a remedy. And so He did, for on S. Michael's day, when 
the people were coming, the weather began to clear, which 
excited in me great devotion, and I perceived how much better 
that blessed man had acted, by trusting in God, than I by my 
trouble.' Such is the version given by the Saint's humiHty of 
occurrences related in a very different manner by the Mother 
Anne of Jesus, the Prioress of the convent. Seeing that the 
rain was falling in such torrents as to impede the removal of 
the religious &om one house to another, and to interfere with 
the concourse of people which was expected to attend the 
sermon of a celebrated preacher, and the exposition of the 
Blessed Sacrament announced for the following day, Anne of 
Jesus, with two other sisters, came to the holy Mother, and 
said to her with great earnestness : * Your reverence sees that 
it is eight o'clock and there is everything to be done ; surely 
you might ask our Lord to stop the rain, so that we may have 
a dry place to prepare the altars.' The Saint, affecting dis- 
pleasure, rephed : ' K you think the thing so easy to obtain, 
ask for it yourself.' M. Anne retired, fearing that she was 
really angry with her. Teresa, however, asked for the grace 
in the words given above, and her prayer was immediately 
granted. The Prioress had hardly left her, when she saw the 
sky become serene, and the' stars shine out as if there had 
been no rain that day. ' Your reverence,' said she, * might as 
weU have asked sooner for the rain to stop. Let us all go 
now and dry the church.' Teresa could not refrain from. 
laughing, and took reftige in her cell. The nuns made such 
haste in their preparation, that everything was ready by the 
following day, when the Blessed Sacrament was exposed with 
great solemnity. 

* Li none of the convents which our Lord has founded of this 
primitive rule,' says the Saint, *have the nuns undergone 
greater troubles than in this, but they have borne them with 



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234 Life of S. Teresa. 

the greatest joy. May His Divine Majesty grant that they 
may advance more and more ! for to have, or not to have, a 
honse of our own matters little ; rather it is a great pleasure to 
ns to be in a house from which we may at any time be driven 
forth, for we remember that the Lord of the world had none. 
To be in a house not our own, has often happened to us, and 
I never noticed any of the nuns to be grieved at it. May His 
Divine Majesty grant that we may obtain the eternal mansions 
through His infinite goodness and mercy ! ' 

During her stay at this time at Salamanca, Teresa received 
the joyful tidings of the approaching return of her beloved 
brother Laurence from South America. 

Laurence de Cepeda had left his country in the year 1540, 
to follow, like his two elder brothers, the profession of arms : 
he was first made captain, and afterwards treasurer of the 
province of Quito. He married, in 1556, the excellent wife 
who has been noticed in one of the Saint's former letters. 
After a happy union of eleven years, God called this holy 
woman to Himself. Her last words to her husband are thus 
recorded by him ; — 

' She said twice to me that one day I should follow her, and 
that if I wished to be with her in glory, I must be a faithful 
Christian, and fervently serve our Lord.' These words of his 
dying wife, and the counsels of his saintly sister, wrought so 
powerfully on the mind of Don Laurence, as to bring him to 
the decision referred to in the following letter, to abandon the 
high position which he held in Quito, and the almost fabulous 
wealth which, in the New World, was in those days at the 
command of persons in power, to* return to Spain, in order to 
prepare his soul for death, and to train his children for a 
Christian Hfe. 

Letter to Jane d'Ahumada : — 

' Jesus. 
' May the Holy Spirit be with you, my dear sister ! These 
letters which I forward to you, will, I am sure, give you very 
great pleasure ; mine cannot be greater. I hope in the good- 
ness of our Lord, that my brother's return will be the allevia^ 
tion, or rather the termination, of your troubles. Intentiona 



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Letter to her Sister Jane. 235 

so holy as his cannot fail to receive a great blessing from God. 
Oh, how much better do I love to see my brothers living 
quietly at home, than engaged in those great employments 
which are never free from danger ! Blessed be onr Lord for 
His goodness to ns ! 

*I repeat it, great has been my joy at the news of my 
brother's approaching return, especially on account of yourself 
and your husband. After all, some good comes of my letters. 
Do you see what are the purposes of God for Laurence de 
Cepeda? For my part, I believe that he thinks more of 
securing his children's salvation than of making a great 
fortune. Jesus ! how much do I owe Thee ! how little do I 
serve Thee ! I have no greater joy than to see brothers whom 
I love so dearly, illuminated by the light of grace, and deter- 
mined to choose those things that are most profitable to their 
souls. 

* Did not I tell you and John d'Ovalle to trust in our Lord, 
and that He would arrange everything? I say the same now : 
put all your affairs into the hands of our Divine Master, and 
He will do what is best for us. I say no more now, because I 
have written a great deal already, and besides it is late. It 
fills me with joy, I assure you, to think of the joy which you 
are about to receive. May our Lord give us that joy which 
alone is lasting, for all in this world passes away ! I am very 
well, and very busy arranging the purchase of the house — ^the 
affair prospers' well. My love to Beatrice. 

' Ever yours, 

'Tbeesa of Jesus. 
•October 19.' 

Before Teresa leffc Salamanca, two other foundations were 
offered to her ; one at Segovia, the other at Veas. For the 
foundation at Segovia she had received an express command 
from our Lord. 'It seemed to me,' says she, 'impossible to 
ftilfil this command, for I could not do it without an order 
from my superiors, and I knew that the Apostolic Visitor had 
no desire that I should found any more houses at present. I 
saw likewise, that the three years not haviug expired, during 
"^hich I had been commanded to remain at the Incamationy 



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Gooile 



236 Life of S. Teresa. 

he hod reason for not wishing any more foundations to be 
made till then. While thinking on this matter, our Lord told 
me to ask his leave, for that he would grant it. He was then 
at Salamanca, and I wrote to him accordingly, to say that, as 
he knew I was under a command of our Most Reverend Father 
General, whenever an opportunity should present itself in any 
place of founding a monastery, not to let it slip ; and that I 
was now requested to found a monastery with the consent of 
the city and the Bishop of Segovia, with which request, with 
the permission of his reverence, I would gladly comply. 

* These words I made use of to discharge my conscience, and 
then rested very well content and satisfied with whatever he 
should command, and I told him also I thought he would do 
God a service by consenting to the foundation. It plainly ap- 
peared that such was our Lord's pleasure, for the Commissary 
Apostolic immediately commanded and empowered me to found 
a monastery in that place, at which I wondered, considering 
what I knew of him in similar cases.' 

The approbation of the Apostolic Visitor having been so 
readily obtained, the Saint wrote to an intimate Mend of hers, 
Dofia Anna Ximenes, begging her to hire a house for the nuns, 
* for I had not,' says she, * a farthing to buy one, and I thought 
that, if possession was once taken, our Lord would not fail to 
provide one for us. 

Hearing that everything was ready at Segovia, S. Teresa 
left Salamanca, accompanied by S. John of the* Cross, JuHan 
of Avila, and a pious gentleman named Antony Gaytan, who 
had pflTered his services to assist her on her journeys. She 
took with her Isabella of Jesus, a cousin of Doila Anna, and 
Mary of Jesus, both natives of Segovia. *t)on Antony 
Gaytan,' says the Saint, *was a man of prayer, and our Lord 
has shown him so many favours, that what to others appears 
impossible, seems easy and delightful to him ; such are aU the 
labours to be endured in these foundations. It clearly appears 
that Gt)d chooses both him and E. Julian of Avila, who 
assisted at the first foundation, for this work. For the Sake of 
such companions, I believe our Lord made everything prosper 
with me ; their discourse on the road was always on Gx)d.' 

S. Teresa, when she undertook this journey, was enduring 



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First Mass at Segovia. 237 

great affliction both of mind and body. * I had a fever upon 
me/ she says; *loss of appetite, and many other corporal 
afflictions, beside the interior suffering of aridity and extreme 
darkness of soul, it being our Lord's will that there should be 
no foundation without some affliction.' 

The Saint and her companions left Salamanca on March 18, 
1574?, and were received with great affection by the pious 
widow, Dona Anna. She was not accustomed to lose time, so 
on the following day being the feast of her great patron, 
S. Joseph, possession was taken of the new convent, which 
was dedicated to him. The first Mass was celebrated by 
S. John of the Gross. 

One of the Canons of Segovia, happening to pass by the 
little chapel, and being much edified by its modest and devout 
appearance, asked permission also to celebrate the Divine 
Sacrifice there, when he was interrupted by the Vicar- Greneral, 
who, in great wrath that the chapel should have been opened 
without his permission, forbade the Canon to say his Mass, 
Maipped the altar of all its ornaments, and gave orders to a 
priest who accompanied him, to consume the Blessed Sacra- 
ment. The iiuns were concealed behind the grille ; Julian of 
Avila hid himself under the staircase ; S. John of the Cross, 
who was the only person visible, barely escaped being sent to 
prison. 

S. Teresa, in the quiet consciousness that she had obtained 
the permission of the Bishop before she left Salamanca, smiled 
within herself at the disturbance made by the Vicar-Greneral. 
She sent to ask her never-failing Mends, the fathers of the 
Society of Jesus, to explain the matter to him, and show him 
that his jurisdiction had been in no way interfered with. Some 
gentlemen of the place, relations of Isabella of Jesus, also inter- 
posed in behalf of the nuns, and the Yicar- Greneral, at last, 
though with considerable reluctance, withdrew his opposition 
so far as to allow Mass to be said in the church, though he still 
forbade the Blessed Sacrament to be placed there. 

This matter being settled, Teresa had next to take measures 
for the removal of the nuns from Pastrana to the new founda- 
tion. 

We have heard enough of the treatment endured by the 



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238 Life of S. Teresa. 

holy Mother before the foundation at Pastrana from the 
Princess of Eboli, to be in some measure prepared for the 
extravagances committed by that lady on the death of her 
pious and reasonable husband. ' The Princess/ says S. Teresa, 
' took great care to make the nuns happy, and to show them 
every kindness, until the death of the Prince ; but after that 
event, the devil (or perhaps our Lord permitted it, and TTi« 
Divine Majesty knows why) contrived that the Princess, in a 
sudden fit of passion for the death of her husband, should 
become a nun in our monastery.' 

This resolution on the part of the Princess was so sudden 
and ill considered, that she insisted upon being clothed in 
Madrid by Father Mariano, who had assisted her husband in 
his last agony ; and without listening to any advice, or stop- 
ping to arrange any of the weighty affairs which depended 
upon her, she entered the convent in the middle of the night. 

The Prioress, the prudent and holy Mother Isabella of S. 
Dominic, in consternation at the sudden metamorphosis, ex- 
claimed : * the Princess a nun ! I give up the house for lost.' 
During the new postulant's brief month of religion, the 
Prioress and the nuns had ample material for merit. Mother 
Isabella at last, having tried every milder means, said to her, 
' K your Excellency continues to behave in such a manner, rest 
assured that we will leave the monastery and go elsewhere to 
observe our primitive rule.' 

This resolution was now carried into effect. S. Teresa 
prevailed upon the superiors to remove the community to 
Segovia. * The Princess,' says she * because the Prioress would 
not give her all the liberties she wished, took such a dislike to 
her, and to all of us, and even after she had taken off the habit 
and retired to her own house, still troubled the poor nuns so 
much, that I endeavoured by every meians in my power to have 
the monastery removed.' 

At their departure from Pastrana, the nuns not only gave 
up everything which they had received from the Princess, but 
they took with them to Segovia some novices whom, at her 
desire, they had received without portion. They carried away 
nothing but their beds, and some little fiimiture which they 
had brought with them. ' The whole place,' says S. Teresa, 



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Vision of S. Albert. 239 

* was in grief at their departure ; as for me, I was very glad 
that an end was put to their troubles and that they were re- 
stored to peace. Doubtless it was not the will of God that a 
convent should be estabhshed in that place.' 

On the day on which these sisters were expected at Segovia, 
the holy Mother said to the religious there: * Sisters, let us 
pray hard for the nuns who are coming from Pastrana, for they 
are in great peril.' On their arrival, it appeared that they had 
been in great danger of being drowned in passing a river ; a 
danger from which her prayers had doubtless delivered them. 
S. Teresa remained six months at Segovia, arranging the affairs 
of the house, and training its inmates to religious perfection. 

Amongst the first to receive the habit in that place were 
the holy widow, Dofla Anna de Ximenes, and her daughter. 
With the portion brought by these ladies, a suitable house was 
purchased; but before the nuns could be removed thither, 
Teresa was obliged to leave them, in order to be present at the 
Chapter to be held at Avila at the termination of her three 
years of office. 

Before her departure from Segovia she was favoured by a 
vision of S. Albert, the author of the primitive Carmelite rule, 
to whom she had earnestly commended the interests of her 
reform. He made known to her that it would be necessary 
for its stability that it should be separated from the control 
of the Superiors of the Mitigation. 



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240 Life of S. Teresa. 



CHAPTER XVn. 
1574. 

POlJNDATIOBr OP VEA8 — 8. TEBESA's FIBST INTERVIEW WITH 
P. GRACIAN — HER HISTORY OP HIS NOVICIATE — HE ACCOM- 
PANIES P. MARIANO INTO ANDALUSIA — THE APOSTOLICAL 
VISITOR DELEGATES HIS POWERS TO HIM — ^LATS AN INJUNC- 
TION UPON S. TERESA TO POUND A HOUSE AT SEVILLE — OUR 
LORD REVEALS TO HER THAT HE HAS APPOINTED P. GRACIAN 
TO BE HER GUIDE — HER VOW OP OBEDIENCE TO HIM. 

The holy Mother arrived at Avila just in time for the opening 
of the Chapter. Though she had been absent for a year, 
owing to her necessary occupations in the foundations of 
Salamanca and Segovia, the religious of the Incarnation felt 
so strongly the benefits which they had derived from her two 
years of superiority, that they unanimously re-elected her. 
Teresa was, however, most reluctant to be longer separated 
from her own children, and the Provincial reftised to confirm 
the election. 

Her daughters at S. Joseph were but too glad to be able to 
claim her for themselves, and their united voices compelled 
her once more to assume the government of her first and best- 
loved foundation. She was not, however, left there long in 
peace, being soon called upon to found a house at Yeas. 

When at Salamanca the holy Mother had received a letter 
from a lady of Veas, named Dofia Catharine of Sandoval and 
Godinez, and other pious persons of that place, requesting her 
to come and found a monastery there, for they had already a 
house ready, and they wanted nothing but her presence for the 
foundation. * I asked,' says she, * certain questions of the 
messenger, and he gave me a good account of the country, 
and justly so, for it is very pleasant, and the temperature is 



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Catharine de Sandoval. 241 

good. But considering its great distance, it seemed to me 
foolish, to go there, especially as I could not do so without 
leave from the Commissary Apostolic, who I knew was an 
enemy (or at least no friend) to any more monasteries being 
founded at that time. I resolved, therefore, to answer, that I 
could not make the foundation, without saying anything 
ftirther. But I thought afterwards, that as the Commissary 
ApostoKc was then at Salamanca, it would not be well to act 
without his advice, on account of the command laid upon me 
by our Most B/Cverend Father Greneral, that I should not omit 
any opportunity of founding monasteries. When he had read 
the letters, he sent me word that it would not be well to 
discourage those persons, with whose devotion he was much 
edified; and that I should send them word that as soon as 
they had obtained a license from the council of the Knights of 
S. James, the Superiors of the place, I would hasten to found 
a monastery ; adding that I might be assured they would 
not be able to obtain leave, for he knew several persons who 
had for many years tried in vain to procure such a license 
from the Knights. In a word, I was not to return them an 
unsatisfactory answer. I sometimes think on this matter, 
and how when our Lord wills anything to be done, it comes to 
pass without our perceiving that we are the instruments, as 
was the case with Father Peter Hernandez, the Commissary 
Apostolic ; for thus, when they obtained the license, he coiild 
not deny his permission.' 

The Saint gives the following account of the conversion of 
Catharine de Sandoval. * There lived in the town of Veas a 
gentleman, called Sancho B<oderick de Sandoval, of noble 
descent and great wealth ; his wife was a lady named Dona 
Catharine. Amongst other children whom our Lord gave 
them were two daughters, who were the foundresses of this 
monastery. The elder was named Catharine, and the younger 
Mary. The former was fourteen years old when our Lord 
called her to his service. Before that time, she was very far 
from abandoning the world ; nay, she had so high an esteem 
of herself, that when her father wished her to marry, she 
rejected everyone whom he proposed as greatly her inferior. 
Being one day in her chamber, she accidentally happened to 



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242 Life of S. Teresa. 

read the title that was placed above a crucifix. While she was 
reading it, our Lord wonderftdly changed her ! She had been 
considering a proposed alliance which was considered very 
honourable to her, and she said within herself: "What a little 
thing contents my father, who thinks it good enough for me to 
marry a Mayorazgo ! * I intend the honour of my family to 
begin in me." She had, however, no inclination to marry, as it 
seemed to her a mean thing to be subject to anyone ; nor did 
she know whence her pride arose. But our Lord knows well 
how to bring good out of evil. May His Majesiy be blessed for 
ever ! When she read the title, she seemed to have received 
a sudden light in her soul, to understand the truth, as if the 
sun should shine in a dark room ; and with this light she 
fixed her eyes on our Lord hanging on the Cross, and shedding 
His Blood ; and she then considered how ill He was treated, 
His profound humihty, and how different a path she was 
treading in her pride. 

* Li these considerations she remained for some time, as our 
Lord held her in a rapture, wherein He gave her a true know- 
ledge of her own great misery, and a desire that all men 
should know it also. She was then seized with so ardent a 
desire of suffering for God, that she longed even for martyr- 
dom, and this was joined with such a deep sense of humility 
and hatred of herself, that if she could have done so without 
offending God, she would have been content to be esteemed a 
notorious sinner, that so all might abhor her. She thus began 
to despise herself, being filled with the desire of doing penance, 
which afterwards she carried into effect. She made a vow 
of poverty and chastity on the spot, and was so desirous 
of being subject to another, that for that end she would have 
been glad to have been transported, as a slave, to the country 
of the Moors.' 

From that moment Catharine gave herself to a life of 
austere penance and unremitting charity, in which she was 
joined by her younger sister. 

Soon afterwards she was favoured with a remarkable vision, 
which, nearly twenty years afterwards, she related to S. 

* The eldest son of a noble house. 



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Miraculous Interposition of S. Joseph. 243 

Teresa. * She told me/ says the Saint, * that she went to bed 
one night, desiring to discover the most perfect religions Order 
on earth, in order that she might enter it ; and she dreamt 
that she was going along a very narrow path, in the greatest 
peril of falling down deep precipices, which lay on each side 
of her, when a person in the dress of a discalced friar said to 
her, " Sister, come along with me." He took her to a convent, 
in which were many mins, and where she saw no light, except 
that which came from the candles in their hands. She en- 
qnired to what Order they belonged. All were silent ; but they 
lifted up their veils, and, smiling, showed her their happy 
countenances. The Prioress took her by the hand, and said, 
" My child, I wish you to be here," showing her at the same 
time the rule and constitutions.' 

From this time, 1565, Catharine persevered in her purpose 
to enter religion in the Order which had been thus revealed 
to her ; and after eighteen years of painftd trials, arising from 
the opposition of friends, and long and severe illness, from 
which she was at last miraculously restored, she ascertained 
from one of the Jesuit fathers that the vision which she had 
seen had reference to the new Carmelite reform. 

In the Lent of 1575, permission having been with great 
difficulty obtained from the Knights of S. James for the founda- 
tion, S. Teresa began her journey to Veas, with Mother 
Anne of Jesus, whom she summoned from Salamanca to under- 
take the government of the new convent. 

As the travellers were passing the high mountain peak of 
the Sierra Morena, they lost their way and came to a point 
where it seemed equally perilous to advance or to recede. The 
Saint enjoined her daughters to recommend themselves to 
God and S. Joseph in a strait where human aid seemed hope- 
less. A voice, as from the highest peak, answered them: 
'Stay where you are; if you pass on you will be dashed 
down the precipice.' The muleteers instantly stopped, and 
asked the friendly voice to point out to them the way of 
safety. They were directed along a path so precipitous, that 
nothing short of a miracle could have enabled them to follow 
it. When the fearful passage had been safely made, some of 
the party wished to go in search of their benefactor. ' I do 

b2 



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244 Life of 8. Teresa. 

not know,' said S. Teresa to the nuns, as the men set off upon 
their search * why we have let them go ; for it was my Father, 
S. Joseph, whom assuredly they will not find.' In fact, they 
returned after a fruitless search, and from that moment the 
mnles travelled with such rapidity, that the muleteers swore 
they went rather like birds than beasts, as if the rugged 
rocks had been changed into a smooth and easy road. On 
February 18, the party reached the entrance of Yeas, where 
the principal citizens who had come forth on horseback to do 
them honour, brought them in triumph to the chu2X5h, where 
the priests in their cottas were waiting .for them ; and pre- 
ceded by the Cross, and accompanied by the two ladies of 
Sandoval, and other nobility of the place, they were conducted 
in procession to the house of Dona Catharine. As soon as she 
was alone with the nuns, they raised their veils, and the joy 
of that faithful and long-suffering heart was full, for she 
i^cognised the faces she had seen in her vision. She knelt at 
once at the feet of M. Anne of Jesus, who pointed out S. 
Teresa to her, saying ' It is to our Mother, lady, that you owe 
obedience.' * This is our Mother Foundress, doubtless,' replied 
Dofia Catharine, 'but it is your reverence whom Gt)d has 
given us to be our Prioress.' She recognised also the friar 
who had guided her in her dream, in the person of the vener- 
able Brother John of Misery, the companion of Father 
Mariano, who, on his way from Castile to Seville, had come to 
meet the holy Mother at Yeas. 

The convent of 8, Joseph the Deliverer was founded on the 
Feast of S. Matthias, in the house of the ladies of Sandoval, 
who on the same day received the religious habit, with the 
names of Catharine and Mary of Jesus. So generous and 
perfect was their abandoimient of the world, that they made a 
full and free gift of their wealth to the convent, without the 
slightest condition. *But what will you do,' said the holy- 
Mother,' if we should refiise after all to profess you, and drive 
you out into the street ? ' * We will serve your reverences as 
portresses,' said they ; * and if you will not give us anything* 
to eat, we will ask alms for the love of Gt)d.' 

S. Teresa remained for three months at Yeas, where she 
gave the habit to four other novices. This convent, under the 



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Father Gradan. 245 

Sirection of its holy Prioress, became one of the most remark- 
able in the Order for religious fervour. 

During her stay in Veas S. Teresa was informed by her old 
friend and benefactor, the Bishop of Avila, that the Inquisi- 
tion had desired an enquiry to be made concerning her history 
of her own life. This enquiry had originated, as is supposed, 
in the rumours which had been set afloat in Madrid, by the 
indiscreet curiosity of the Princess of Evoli. The humility of 
the Saint immediately took alarm, and her old fears of being 
deluded returned upon her. She was consoled and strength- 
ened by her beloved daughter, Anne of Jesus, and a mightier 
Comforter was at hand. The next day, after Holy Communion, 
she said to Mother Anne : * My daughter, thank Grod with me, 
for when I received our Lord to-day, He consoled me, saying : 
" Trouble not thyself, for this cause is mine." ' 

It was at Veas that Teresa first became acquainted with 
one who was to exercise so powerful an influence both over 
herself and her reform. Jerome Gracian (in religion, of tJie 
Mother of God) was the son of Don Diego Gracian de Alderete, 
who had been successively secretary to Charles V. and 
Philip H., and was one of the most eminent men of his time 
for learning, wisdom, and virtue. Of his mother, Doiia Jane 
Dantisco, S. Teresa, who knew her intimately, says : * I have 
known few women equal to her in excellence.' 

The son of these parents was worthy of them. At the age 
of seven-and-twenty, when he left the world, Jerome Gracian 
was already one of the most remarkable men of his time, as a 
man of letters, a theologian, and an orator. His birth, his 
merit, his learning, his renown, the singular gift of fascina- 
tion by which he gained such an influence over all who came 
within its sphere, his own and his father's favour with 
PhiHp n. opened the way to his attainment of the highest 
ecclesiastical dignities, when he turned his back upon them 
aU to take up the Cross of Christ. 

S. Teresa thus narrates his vocation to Carmel. * A Father 
of our Order of Discalced Friars came to see me at Veas, 
whose name was F. Jerome Gracian, of the Mother of Qod, 
He had taken the habit a few years before when at the 
University of AlcalA ; he was a man of very great learning, 



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246 Life of 8. Teresa. 

judgment, and modesty, and during all his life was so distin- 
guished for his virtues, that it seems our Lady had chosen 
him for the good of this primitive Order. When he was at 
Alcala, he was very far from thinking of taking our habit, 
though Mly purposed to become a religious. His parents, 
however, had other intentions for him, on account of their 
being in high favour with the King, and by reason of 
their son's distinguished abilities. His father (who was 
the King's secretary) desired that he should study the law ; 
but although then very young, he dishked the thought of 
such a life so much, that by his tears he obtained leave to 
devote himself to the study of diviniiy. He made an attempt, 
as soon as he had taken his doctor's degree, to enter the 
Society of Jesus, but, for some reason or other, his admission 
was postponed by the superiors, and he finally relinquished 
the design. He told me that all his pleasures and amuse- 
ments served but to torment him, because he thought this was 
not the safe way to Heaven. He constantly observed fixed 
hours of prayer, and his recollection and modesty were very 
great. 

' In process of time an intimate friend of his (in religion 
B. John of Jesus) entered our monastery at Pastrana. I 
know not whether it was a letter from this religious on the 
excellence and antiquity of our Order, or some other cause, 
which gave him an inclination for it. He began to take such 
great pleasure in reading anything connected with our Lady's 
Order, and in verifying what he read by the testimony of grave 
authors, that he often felt a scruple at interrupting his study 
of other things, by his continual reading of our history, to 
which he also devoted his hours of recreation. Oh, the wisdom 
and the power of God ! How vain are the efforts of men to 
elude His will ! Our Lord knew well what great need we 
had of such a man to carry on the work which His Divine 
Majesty had begun. I often praise Him for the favour He 
has shown us herein ; for if I had asked His Divine Majesty 
for a person to regulate all the affairs of our reform, I could 
not have fixed upon one equal to him whom He gave us. 
May He be blessed for ever ! 

' Being then far from the intention of taking this habit, F. 



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F. GradarCa Devotion to our Blessed Lady. 247 

Gracian was requested to go to Pastrana, to speak with the 
Prioress there about the admission of a postulant. How 
wonderftdly does our Lord order things ! For had he gone 
thither resolved to take the habit, he would perhaps have met 
with so many to oppose him, that he would never have accom- 
pHshed his design. 

' But the Blessed Virgin, our Lady (to whom he is exceed- 
ingly devout), wished to reward him by the gift of her habit. 
She was unwilhng that one who so greatly desired to serve 
her should want an opportunity of carrying his design into 
execution; for she is ever wont to bestow favours on those 
who desire to place themselves under her protection. 

' When only a child at Madrid, F. Gracian often paid his 
devotions to an image of our Lady, which he was accustomed 
to call his Beloved. She obtained for him from her Son that 
purity in which he always lived. He told me once, that she 
sometimes appeared to him with her eyes filled with tears on 
account of the offences committed against her Son. Hence 
arose within him an impetuous desire for the welfare of souls, 
and an intense sorrow when ever he saw God offended. He 
is so strongly impressed with this desire of doing good to 
souls that no labour seems great to him, if thereby he can 
benefit anyone. This I have seen myself in the many troubles 
which he has endured. 

' The Blessed Virgin then brought him to Pastrana, as he 
thought, to procure the habit for another ; but our Lord was 
waiting there to bestow it on himself. ! how wonderful are 
the secrets of God ! And how sweetly (without our wishing 
or intending it) does He dispose us for receiving His favours ! 
Thus did He repay this man for the good works which he had 
done, and for the good example he had given, and the great 
desire he had of serving His glorious Mother ; for assuredly 
His Majesty will always repay such desires by bestowing 
wonderftil graces ! 

* On his arrival at Pastrana, F. Gracian went to speak with 
the Prioress (M. Isabella of S. Dominic) about the admis- 
sion of the postulant, little supposing that she would treat with 
our Lord about his own entrance into the Order. As soon as 
she saw him his demeanour pleased her much, insomuch that 



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248 lAfe of S. Teresa. 

she and all tlie nnns earnestly besought onr Lord not to suf- 
fer him to go away without taking the habit. The Prioress 
herself is a very great servant of Gt)d, and hence I think 
her prayer alone would be heard by His Divine Majesty — 
how much more the prayers of so many devout souls that 
were living there! They all took up the matter very earn- 
estly; and with fasting, disciplines, and prayers, they con- 
tinually besought His Divine Majesty, till at length He was 
pleased to grant this favour. 

*When F. Gracian went to the monastery of friars and 
saw so much devotion and such opportunities of serving our 
Lord, and, above all, that it was the Order of his glorious 
Mother, whom he desired so much to serve, his heart began to 
be moved not to return to the world again. And though the 
devil suggested many difficulties, and in particular the grief 
which this step would cause his parents, who loved him much, 
and hoped that he would be of great use to their children 
(for they had many), yet leaving this care to God, for whose 
sake he abandoned all things, he determined now to become 
a devout servant of our Lady, and to take her habit ; and ac- 
cordingly it was given to him, to the joy of all, especially of 
the Prioress and nuns, who gave great thanks and praise to 
our Lord. 

* He spent his year of probation with such humiliiy, that he 
seemed to be the lowest of the novices. At one time his 
virtue was especially tried, for, as the Prior was then absent, 
a Superior was appointed who was very young and without 
learning, abilities, or prudence for governing ; neither had he 
any experience, as he had been only lately admitted into the 
Order. It was a very strange thing to see how he governed 
the religious, and the mortifications which he imposed on 
them ; every time I think on the subject, I am astonished how 
they could have borne with him; the Divine Spirit alone 
could have enabled them to endure this trouble. But it was 
afterwards discovered that he was extremely subject to melan- 
choly, so that wherever he went (even as a subject), he gave 
trouble ; how much more when he was in command ! for this 
melancholy had gained great power over him. He is, never- 
theless, a good religious, and God sometimes allows the error 



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Her high Estvmation of F. Oradan. 249 

to happen of putting such, persons in authority, in order to 
perfect the obedience of those He loves ; and so it was here. 

* In recompense for this trial, God bestowed a very won- 
derftd light in matters of obedience on F. Jerome, that so he 
might hereafter teach this virtue to his subjects, as one who 
had made so good a beginning in the exercise of it. And 
that he might not want experience in eveiytlung necessary for 
our government, he had most grievous temptations three 
months before his profession ; but (like a brave captain who 
was one day to lead the sons of our Lady) he manfully de- 
fended himself against them ; and the more the devil pressed 
him to take off the habit, so much the more did he resolve to 
cling to it, and to bind himself to it by the vows. He gave 
me a treatise which he wrote during those violent temptations, 
from which I derived great edification, seeing clearly the 
strength which had been given him by God. 

' It may seem strange that he should have communicated to 
me so many particulars concerning his soul, but our Lord 
allowed it, that I might insert them here, to the end He 
might be praised in His creatures, for I know that neither to 
his confessor nor to any one else had he revealed so much. 
Perhaps he thought (on account of my age and of what he 
had heard of me) that I had some experience in these 
matters. 

* For the most part,' continues the Saint, * those who speak 
with him love him (which is a special favour from our Lord), 
and he is also extremely beloved by aU his inferiors, both men 
and women. For though he is very exact in leaving no fault 
unpunished, having a regard for the welfare of the Order, yet 
he does everything with such sweetness and mildness, that it 
seems no one can complain of him. 

* I have been very short, that should these words ever come 
to be read by him, they may not displease him, but I could 
not say less than I have said, nor forbear mentioning one who 
has been so great an instrument in the restoration of our pri- 
mitive rule. For, though he was not the first who began it, 
yet the time has been when, but for my confidence in our 
Lord's goodness, I could sometimes have been angry that the 
work had been begun before. I speak of the houses of the^ 



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250 Life of S. Teresa. 

Mars, for as regards the mms, they have up to this time 
always gone on well ; but the houses of the friars, though 
they did not go on badly, had within them the principle of 
dissolution, because, having no Provincial of their own, they 
were governed by the fathers of the mitigated rule. Those 
who were able to govern (such as F. Antony of Jesus, who be- 
gan the reform) were not approved nor supported, neither had 
particular constitutions been given them by the most Reverend 
Father General. The prior of each house did as he thought fit ; 
and, until the time when the reform came to have Superiors of 
its own, this was an occasion of great troubles ; for some were 
of one opinion, others of another, and this state of things often 
gave me much pain. All this, however, our Lord remedied by 
means of F. Jerome of the Mother of God ; for he was made 
Commissary Apostolic, and received authority over all the 
friars and nuns of the discalced Order. He also drew up 
constitutions for the friars (the nuns had received theirs 
already from our most Reverend Father), by virtue of his 
ApostoHc authority ; being fitted for the work by the great 
gifts which he had received from our Lord. The first time 
that he visited the fathers, he put everything in such excel- 
lent order, that it was quite clear he was assisted by His 
Divine Majesiy, and that our Lady had chosen him for the 
good of her Order.' 

F. Gracian had accompanied F. Mariano into Andalusia, 
on the invitation of the Visitor ApostoHc, F. Vargas, to aid 
him in the work of reform. 

Whether because he was weary of the struggle with the 
Andalusians, or that he considered that they would be more 
amenable to one of their own Order, Vargas delegated his 
powers as Visitor ApostoHc to this young reHgious, who had 
not yet reached the age of thirty, thus placing the fathers of 
the mitigation under his control. 

F. Gracian's first measures were most prudent and con- 
ciHating. He restored to the mitigated CarmeHtes the monas- 
tery at S. Juan a Porto, which had been taken from them, and 
sent back to them several subjects who had joined the reform. 
Having no house of their own in Andalusia, the two fathers, 
Gracian and Mariano, took up their abode at the Convent of 



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Blmd Obedience.^ 251 

the Mitigation in Seville, where they were residing at the 
time the former met S. Teresa at Veas. 

The holy Mother ascertained, for the first time, in a con- 
versation with F. Gracian, that Yeas belonged to the province 
of Andalusia. She was much disqnieted at the information, 
having received express orders from the Father General to 
make no foundation in that part of Spain. He had himself 
experienced the difl&culty of dealing with the Andalusians, and 
was well aware of the want of sympathy, or rather the anti- 
pathy, which existed between the fitfiil and fiery people of the 
south and the calm and steadfast Castilians. 

' I had always,' says Teresa, ' refased to make any founda- 
tion in Andalusia, and, if I had known that Veas belonged to 
that province, I would never have gone thither, but the mis- 
take arose from the fact that, though the town is not in Anda- 
lusia, it is subject to it.' F. Gracian, whose authority was 
not derived from the General, gave himself no trouble about 
the matter, but took advantage of the mistake to exert his 
authority as Visitor of Andalusia to induce her to make a 
foundation at Seville. 

* Your reverence,' said he, * being now in Andalusia, is my 
subject, and in ftiture must execute whatever we may judge 
most for the Divine service.' Teresa was no way unwilling to 
be under obedience to one for whom she had already conceived 
so high an opinion, and he gave her an occasion of exercising 
a most heroic act of obedience. She was at this time contem- 
plating a foundation in Caravaca, and another in Madrid. 
F. Gracian pressed her to lay both these aside for the present, 
and to found a convent at once at Seville, the capital of 
Andalusia. 

He bade her, however, first to consult God on the subject. 

Having done so, she told him that our Lord had given her 
to understand that it would be best to make the foundation at 
Madrid first. ' I am of opinion, nevertheless,' replied Father 
Gracian, * that you had better go first to Seville.' The Saint 
made no reply, but immediately began her preparations for the 
journey, and chose the religious who were to accompany her. 
In a few days, F. Gracian, in admiration at her prompt 
obedience, said to her : ' It is not at all impossible that I may 



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252 Life of S. Teresa. 

have been mistaken in my opinion ; how is it that you imme- 
diately determined to follow it against a positive revelation P ' 

*I cannot be deceived,' replied Teresa, 'in obeying my 
superiors. I may be deceived as to the truth of a revelation.' 
F. Gracian was so much struck by this answer, that he 
obliged the Saint once more to consult our Lord, who, on this 
occasion replied : ' You have done well to obey. Your reform, 
as well as the foundation at Madrid, will gain by it. Gt) to 
Seville ; the house will be founded, but you will have much to 
suffer.' 

At this time the Saiut, as she relates in the following words, 
was placed by our Lord Himself under the direction of F. 
Gracian. 

' I saw our Lord in the form under which He is wont to 
appear to me. On His right side was F. Gracian, and I 
myself was on His left. He took both our right hands, and 
joining them in His own, said to me : " This is he whom I will 
have to stand to thee in My place as long as thou shalt live, 
and I will have you both to agree in all things, for such is My 
will." 

* I felt so great an assurance that this vision, came from 
Gt)d, that I did not hesitate to obey it, though I felt a great 
repugnance to leave two of my confessors whose direction I 
had long followed, especially one of them whom I greatly 
reverenced and loved. So I determined to do all that my 
Divine Master told me, and faithftilly to follow in all things, 
for the rest of my life, the direction of F. Gracian, unless it 
should be in any matter visibly contrary to the law of God ; 
and this I am certain will never happen, for, from certain 
things which he has said to me, I believe that he has bound 
himself by the same vow which I have taken myself, to do 
always that which is most perfect.* 

Li the following Whitsuntide, the Saint was favoured by a 
glorious vision of the Holy Ghost in the visible form of a 
dove, by which she felt her love of God sensibly increased. 
*I felt,' she says, 'within my soul the most intense desire to 
make some return for this signal grace, and it came into my 
mind that the most acceptable thing that I could do for that 
Divine Spirit, would be to bind myself by vow to the obedience 



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Her Vow of Obedience to F. Oradan, 253 

which I had already determined to pay to F. Gracian. I felt 
the most intense repugnance to do this, and again the greatest 
anguish that I should shrink from doing anything which I 
had an opportunity of doing for God. 

* Except the agony which I felt at leaving my father's house 
to enter religion, no other act of my life, not even my profes- 
sion, cost me so much as this. 

* After a brief struggle, our Lord gave me strength to over- 
come myself, and I knelt down and promised to follow the will 
of F. Gracian all my life long, provided it should not be 
against the will of God, nor against that of other superiors 
whom I might be bound to obey. I promised besides never to 
conceal from him any of my sins, or any of my faults, a thing 
to which we are not bound with regard to our superiors : in 
short, to consider him in all things, interior and exterior, as 
holding to me the place of God Himself. Then I felt as if I 
/had done something great for the Holy Ghost ; at least, I had 
done my best to please Him, and I felt a satisfaction and joy 
which I have never since lost. I thought that I was going to 
bind myself with a chain, and I have been far more free than 
ever I was before. I am well assured that our Lord will 
grant F. Gracian fresh supplies of grace, of which I shall 
have my share, and light to direct me in all things. May He 
be blessed for having created one in whom I could feel such 
confidence as to dare to make such a vow !' 



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264 Life of S. Teresa. 



CHAPTER XVni. 
1575, 1576. 

FOUNDATION OP 8EVILLB — TRIALS ENDITRED BY S. TERESA — 
PERSECUTION RAISED AGAINST THE REFORM — S. TERESA'S 
NARRATIVE OP THE STRUGGLE — THE NUNCIO HORMANETO — 
GENERAL CHAPTER AT PLACENTIA FORBIDS S. TERESA TO PRO- 
CEED WITH HER FOUNDATIONS, OR TO LEAVE THE CONVENT 
WHICH SHE MAY CHOOSE AS HER RESIDENCE — HER LETTER 
TO THE FATHER GENERAL — LAURENCE OF CEPEDA SECURES 
A HOUSE FOR THE NUNS — S. TERESA DENOUNCED TO THE HOLY 
OFFICE — LETTER TO MOTHER MARY OF S. JOHN BAPTIST — 
FOUNDATION OF CARAVACA — S. TERESA LEAVES SEVILLE FOR 
TOLEDO — ^FIRST CHAPTER OF ALMODOVAR. 

F. Gracian left Yeas for Madrid to meet the Papal Nuncio, 
bj whose authority he was created Provincial of the reform ; 
and S. Teresa with six religious, accompanied by Julian of 
Avila and Antony Graytan, set off on her journey to Seville. 
* With our utmost haste,' says the Saint, * we were unable to 
reach Seville till the Thursday afber Pentecost. The heat was 
excessive, and though we halted at mid-day, we were in a kind 
of purgatory. My companions were so holy, that they thought 
it sweet to suffer something for Grod, and if I had taken them 
into the land of the Turks, they would have had strength, I 
doubt not, or rather, God would have given them strength, to 
suffer all torments for His love. For as I had to take them to 
so distant a foundation, I had chosen such as were most per- 
fect in prayer and mortification.' 

The most remarkable amongst these saintly sisters was Mary 
of S. Joseph, afterwards Prioress of Seville (in the world, Mary 
of Salazar), whose vocation to rehgion dates from S. Teresa's 
stay in the palace of her kinswoman, Dofia Louisa de la Cerda, 



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Difficulties on the Way to Seville. 255 

at Toledo. She had received the habit of Mount Cannel at 
the foundation of the convent at Malagon in 1568. 

The jonmey to Seville was foil of disasters. S. Teresa was 
attacked on the Vigil of Pentecost with a violent fever, aggr% 
vated by the intense heat, and the whole party narrowly es- 
caped drowning in crossing the Guadalquivir. They hastened 
to reach Cordova early in the morning to be able to hear Mass 
quietly. * After many vexatious delays, we arrived,' says the 
Saint, * at the church, where F. Julian d'Avila was to say 
Mass. We found it ftdl of people assembled on account of the 
festival, for it was dedicated to the Holy Ghost. A sermon 
was also to be preached. When I perceived this, I was greatly 
troubled ; and, in my judgment, it would have been better to 
have departed without hearing Mass than to have got ourselves 
into such a crowd. F. Julian thought otherwise; and, as he 
was a theologian, we followed his opinion, otherwise the rest of 
my companions woxdd perhaps have followed mine, which 
would have been quite wrong. We alighted near the church ; 
and though no one could see our faces, our veils being down, 
the sight of those veils, together with our sandals and white 
mantles, was enough to cause curiosity and emotion among 
the people. A sudden palpitation of the heart, occasioned by 
fear of the crowd, quite took away my fever. When we got 
into the church, a good man met us, and made way for us 
through the crowd. I begged of him to conduct us to some 
little chapel, and he did so, locking the door upon us until he 
came again to take us out of the church. A few days after- 
wards this good man came to Seville, and told one of our 
fathers that, in recompense, as he believed, for the good office 
he had done us, an unexpected inheritance had fallen to him. 
Wtat I tell you, daughters, may seem to you a mere trifle, but 
to me it was one of the severest mortifications of my life ; for 
the excitement of the people at the sight of us was no less than 
if we had been so many bulls driven in for a bull fight.' 

The misfortunes on the way were but preliminary to the 
trials which awaited the Saint at SeviQe. She was directed 
to a small and damp house hired by F. Mariano. Teresa 
had anticipated no difficulties in this foundation, having 
been assured both by F. Gracian and F. Mariano that the 



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256 Life of 8. Teresa. 

Archbishop was most favourable to the reform, and wonld 
gladly sanction the establishment of a convent in the ciiy ; she 
had therefore omitted, as xumecessary, the nsnal preliminary 
pf asking the Hcense of the Diocesan. On her arrival, however, 
she found that the Archbishop was wholly averse to the foun- 
dation of a convent without endowment. * This was the same,' 
says the Saint, ' as saying that no convent should be founded 
at all ; for though I had accepted endowments for poor places, 
where the nuns could not otherwise be supported, I would 
never have consented to do this in so wealthy a city as Seville. 
On the other hand, I had not a farthing lefb from the expenses 
of our journey ; and we had brought nothing with us but our 
habits, some tunics, and some cloth which had covered the 
waggons. We were even obHged to borrow money to pay the 
drivers. In this state of things the foundation seemed im- 
possible. At length, after many entreaties from JP. Mariano, 
the Archbishop gave leave for Mass to be said on the Feast of 
the Most Holy Trinity (May 29, 1575). But he would suffer 
no bell to be rung. Thus matters continued for about a fort- 
night, and I determined, if I could obtain permission from the 
Father Visitor, to return to Veas with my nuns for the founda- 
tion of Caravaca. At length it pleased God that the Archbishop 
should come and visit me, when I represented to him that he 
was dealing hardly with us. He listened to my reasons, and 
granted me all that I desired, and from that day he has never 
ceased to favour us.' 

The Saint's troubles at Seville were not, however, over, and 
they were aggravated by great interior trials, which made them 
harder to hear. ' No one could have imagined,' says she, * that 
in so wealthy and populous a city as Seville, I should have had 
more trouble and difficulty in founding a house than in any- 
other place ; so much so that I sometimes thought we were 
not meant to have a monastery in this ciiy. I know not if 
it be in this part of the world that the devils, as I have heard, 
have greater power, by the permission of God, to tempt peo- 
ple than in other places ; for here they assailed me so dread- 
fnlly that during all my life I never knew myself to be so 
pusillanimous and so cowardly as I was in Seville. Sometimes 
I hardly knew, myself. Not that I had lost confidence in oxtr 



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Persecution raised against the Reform. 257 

Lord, but my nature was so different firom wliat it was wont 
to be, that I plainly perceived He had withdrawn His hand 
from me, to convince me that whatever courage I once had 
was not my own.' 

Severer trials, however, than any connected with the foun- 
dation of Seville were now impending. We have neither 
space nor inclination to enter into the long and grievous his- 
tory of the internal conflict in the Carmelite Order which 
for five years together threatened to crush S. Teresa's reform. 
She has left the following sketch of it in the book of her 
foundations, to which we shall only add from time to time 
Buch notices as bear upon her personal history. 

' After the convent at Seville was established, the foundations 
were discontinued for more than four years, on account of 
the great persecutions which at that time suddenly arose against 
our discalced friars and nuns ; for, although they had before 
suffered many, yet not to such a degree as now, for these trials 
■were near putting an end to our reform. The devil hereby 
showed his envy at our good beghming, which our Lord, by 
its ultimate success, proved to be His own work. 

' The discalced fathers, and especially the Superiors, suffered 

much on account of the seriouB accusations and contradictions 

which they endured from almost all the fathers of the mitigated 

rule. These had so prejudiced our Most Reverend Father 

General, that (although he was a very holy man, and had 

himself given leave for the foundation of all the monasteries, 

except that of S. Joseph's in Avila, which was the first, and 

which was erected by the authority of the Pope) he insisted 

that the discalced fathers should proceed no farther (to the 

houses of the nuns he was always favourable) ; and because I 

had assisted them, they made him displeased with me, which 

was the greatest affliction I suffered in these foundations, 

though I had to endure many. For, on the one hand, my 

learned confessors and directors would not consent to my 

desisting from undertakings which I clearly saw woxdd do 

our Lord some service, and also increase our Order; and, 

on the other, to go against what I perceived was the wish of 

the Father General, was indeed a kind of death to me ; for, 

besides the duty I owed him as my Superior, I loved him ten- 

s 



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258 Life of 8. Teresa. 

derly, as I liad reason to do. Tlie trath is, that however mnch 
I might have desired to please him in this matter, I could 
not, because of the authority of the ApostoHcal Visitors whom 
I was bonnd to obey. About this time the Pope's Nuncio 
died, who was a holy man, a great lover of virtue, and a 
sincere friend to the discalced Others. Another succeeded 
TiiTTi, who it seems was sent by Grod to exercise us in suf- 
ferings. He was in some way related to the Pope, and, though 
doubtless a great servant of God, he was entirely in favour 
of the fathers of the mitigated rule ; and according to the 
information which he received from them concerning us, he 
came to the conclusion that it was better that the reform 
should proceed no further ; and accordingly he began to exe- 
cute his plans with extreme rigour, condemning, imprisoxdng, 
and banishing aU those who he supposed might resist him 
Those who suffered most were JP. Antony of Jesus, who 
founded the first convent of discalced fathers,* and F. Jerome 
Gracian, whom the late Nuncio had made ApostoHc Visitor 
of the fathers of the mitigated rule. With these, and with 
F. Mariano of S. Benedict, he was displeased the most; 
he forbade them, under pain of heavy censures, to undertake 
or manage any business. It was clear that all this trouble 
came from God, and that His Majesiy permitted it for some 
greater good, and that the virtues of these fathers might be- 
come better known, as indeed came to pass. He appointed a 
father of the mitigated rule to visit the monasteries, both of 
friars and nuns, and had what he imagined of us been true, 
this would have been a great affliction to us ; as it was we 
suffered exceedingly, as may be seen in the narratives of those 
who write better than I do. I only just touch on these points, 
in order that the nuns who come after us may understand how 
mu6h they are bound to advance in perfection, since what they 
find so easy, has cost those now living very dear; some of 
them having suffered at that time heavy accusations, which 
afflicted me much more acutely than what I endured myself, 
which was rather a source of pleasure to me. It seemed that 
I was the cause of all this trouble, and that if I had been thrown 
into the sea, like Jonas, the tempest would have ceased. God 
be praised, who ever defends the truth : and so it happened 



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NicolcLS Horma7ieto. 259 

now ; for when onr Catholic king Don Philip heard what had 
taken place, and was informed of the life and virtues of the 
discalced fathers, he took up onr cause so favourably, that he 
would not allow the Nuncio alone to judge it, but appointed 
four others in addition, wise and prudent men, three of whom 
were religious, to examine the case. One of them was Peter 
Hernandez, a very holy man, and very prudent and learned : 
he had been Apostolic Commissary and Visitor of the fathers 
both of the mitigated and discalced rule iu the province of 
Castile. He weU knew the truth, and the manner of life of 
both, which was all that we desired ; and thus, seeing the king 
had appointed him our judge, I considered the business as al- 
ready finished, as by the mercy of God it is now. May Hia 
Majesty grant that it may tend to His honour and glory ! Al- 
though many great men in the kingdom and many bishops 
had taken pains to acquaint the Nuncio with the truth, yet all 
would have availed but little, if Grod had not made use of the 
king as His instrument.' 

The mitigated Cannes had been long pouring their griev- 
ances into the ear of the Father Greneral, who, conceiving that 
the Apostolic Visitors had exceeded their powers, and infidnged 
upon his authority, obtained firom the new Pope, Grregory XIII., 
in August 1574, a revocation of their commission. Philip 11. 
was known to be so favourable to the reform, that Rossi did 
not venture immediately to use the power thus obtained 
against it; and the' Nuncio, Hormaneto, by virtue of the very 
extensive powers entrusted to him, confirmed the two Visitors 
in their office, and confirmed at the same time the delegation 
of the authority of Vargas to F. Gracian. The zeal of 
Nicolas Hormaneto in the cause of ecclesiastical reform had 
drawn upon him from his adversaries the ironical soubriquet 
of the reformer of the world. He had been Vicar- General of 
Milan under S. Charles Borromeo, who highly esteemed him, 
and employed him in the great work of reform in his diocese ; 
he had also assisted Cardinal Pole, in. his brief work in 
England, especially in the purification of the universities from 
the heresies with which they were infected. 

A still heavier blow was struck at the reform in the General 
Chapter of the Order held at Placencia in the spring of 1575, 

s2 



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260 Life of 8. Teresa. 

whioh passed a decree annnlliTig all that had been done by the 
Yioars Apostolical in its &yoiir. All the monasteries in Anda- 
Insia were to be dissolved as well as all those in Castile which 
had not been founded by the authority of the General. A 
Portoguese Carme, named Tostado, was appointed by the 
General as his Vicar, to carry out the decrees of the Gonncil. 

TTin instmctions were to treat the discalced Cannes with 
great external deference ; but to scatter them among the con- 
vents of the mitigation, by which they would in hct be 
absorbed and neutralised. S. Teresa, notwithstanding the 
E. General's former experience of her saintliness and prudence, 
had incurred his displeasure by her foundations in Andalusia, 
which had associated her in his mind with the supposed 
contumacy of the Fathers Gracian and Mariano. A peremp- 
tory order was conveyed to her by F. Angelo Salazar, the 
Provincial of Castile, to refrain from making any new foun- 
dations, and to make choice of one of her convents as her 
friture place of abode, which she was not to leave on any pre- 
text whatsoever. What were the feelings of the Saint on 
receiving this command the following letter to the F. General 
will show : — 

* Jesus. The Grace of the Holy Spirit be ever with your 
Reverence ! Amen. 

* Since my arrival at Seville, I have written to your Reverence 
three or four times. I did not write again because our &thers 
who came from the Chapter told me you were not at Borne, 
but had gone to visit the convents at Mantua. Thanks be to 
God for ike success of that af&ir ! In my letters I gave your 
Reverence an account of the three convents that have been 
founded this year, viz. at Veas, Caravaca, and Seville. In 
these places you have religious, who are indeed great servants 
of God. The first two are endowed, but the latter is founded 
in poverty. At present we have no house of our own here ; 
but I hope in our Lord we shall soon have one. I do not give 
you a particular account of each of these foundations, because 
I am certain that some of my former letters will, by this time, 
have reached your Reverence. 

' In one of them I observed what a diifference there is between 



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Letter to the Father OeneraL 261 

hearing the discalced Others speak (I mean F. Gracian and 
F. Mariano), and hearing their enemies speak of them. These 
fathers are certainly the true children of your Reverence ; 
and, I may say, that in every spiritual point they yield to 
none of those who boast so much of being your children. 
As they have asked me to beg your Reverence to receive 
them again into your favour (for they themselves dai'e not 
write to you), I entreated you with all possible earnestness to 
do so in the letters which I wrote you ; now I renew my en- 
treaties. I trust you will grant me this favour, for the love of 
our Lord. BeHeve what I say, for I have no reason to induce 
me not to speak the truth. Besides, I think I should offend 
God were I to conceal this matter from you : and even though 
I should not thereby offend Him, I should consider it at 
great crime and baseness to conceal anything from a father- 
whom I love so tenderly. When we shall appear before the 
tribunal of God, you will see what you owe to your true 
daughter, Teresa of Jesus. This is the only thing that consoles 
me in the matter, for I believe some will be found who may 
tell you differently. But those who are unprejudiced must 
acknowledge that I speak the truth, and this I will do as long 
as I hve. 

* I have already written to your Reverence respecting the 
commission which F. Gracian received from the Nuncio, and* 
how he was sent for by him. You must know that he has 
been confirmed in his of&ce of Visitor of our fethers and sisters, 
and likewise of the mitigated Cannes of the province of 
Andalusia. I am confident that he has done all in his power 
to avoid accepting the latter office, though report says the 
contrary. But I tell you the truth, neither does his brother 
the secretary wish him to accept it, because it is always at- 
tended with great trouble. But as it was a matter already 
settled, if those fathers had taken my advice, all would have 
been amicably arranged, as between brothers, without offence 
to anyone. I have done all I coxQd to make them agree, ad* 
'was but fitting, for those fathers have helped us much since we 
liave been here. I have also found here, as I told your Rever- 
ence, persons of great talent and learning. I wish we cotdd 
liave such as these in our province of Castile. I am very fond 



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4<i L ''- -r i 




tcntifi </ to cttKj TiiESacioes SEii rrrmgrm wksck Ihry afc^ 
fihr< ^ tiMse \Mm.itfw jean oci jw.ii.^ -y of oar no. God 
gyaal we anj kstf^rw b:w to prc^: o^ dues. 5jr ffis Hajealy 
U.4;ti^ tn» «« nrseli ! Qc^rerer. a^ iLeTaEtorisBOwof the 
Moae Order, tlie Tis*ta&c«i wiH £ju< be eocsideicd in the figfafc 
r>f a refieetiioa cpon It. I trmt in Gtxl tbat, if yoor Beicicj ice 
itIjI f^t jiL/>ir fome knyfnfi to this fiicber, aH the afii^ will 
ptntper well ; for teen eroyone will know that he is in j%mr 
h^rr/nr. He baa tafcan the Hbenj of writing to ycnr Bevoence 
MDCe be ia rerj anxioaa to be at peace with joe, and not to 
gire joa aoj pain, beeame he oonadera bimaelf to be one of 
jonr obedient iona, 

* I once more beg of joor Bererenee fijr the love rf onr 
Lord and His ^orions Mother, whom jroa lore so tender^, 
and whom F, Gracian alao lores (for he entered our Order 
for her »ake^, I beg of yon to answer his letter with mildnewB, 
and to forget what has passed, even though he shoold have 
been in ^atolt, and to receive him again as your child and 
mih)ecif for he is indeed an obedient son. I b^ the simie far 
poor F, Mariano, who sometimes does not know how to explain 
himself Hence I shonld not be surprised if he has writ^ien 
things to yovop Reverence different from what he had in his 
thoughts, for want of knowing how to express his meaning, 
fbr he positively declares that he never had any intention of 
displeasing you either by word or deed. As the devil gains a 
great deal by making people take things in a wrong sense, so 
he ha« employed all his art to make these two Withers, contrary 
to their intention, appear in the wrong. 

* But your Reverence should consider how natural it is for 
children to err, and for parents to pardon and forget the 
faults of their children. For the love of God, then, I beg of 
your Reverence to grant me this favour. It is necessary for 
many reasons, which you may not know so well in Italy as I 
do hero j and though we poor women are not fit persons to 



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She defends the Diacalced Fathers. 263 

give good advice, still sometimes we hit the mark as well as a 
man. I camiot see what harm can come from receiving these 
poor men into fitvonr again ; on the contrary, yon may (as I said) 
derive a great deal of good from so doing, whereas I see none 
that can be gained by refosing lovingly to receive those who 
would willingly cast themselves at your feet, were they near 
your Reverence. God does not fail to pardon ns, however 
guilty: imitate Him, then, on this occasion, and make it known 
that you are glad that one of your own children and subjects 
. has undertaken the reform of the Order, and that in return 
you are glad to pardon him, if in anything he has offended 
you. 

' If there were many to whom this commission could have 
been given, well and good ; but as it seems there is no religious 
so fit for the office as this father is (and I am sure if you 
saw him you would be of the same opinion), why does your 
Reverence not show us that you are glad to have such a man 
under your obedience ? Why shoxdd you not wish all the 
world to know that the reform (if it shoxdd prosper) was 
effected through your means and by your advice ? It is certain 
l^at if your Reverence is known to approve this reform, all 
difficulties will vanish. 

*I could say much more respecting this matter. But I 
beseech our Lord to make you understand how necessary that 
is which I have already said, for it is now some time since you 
have paid any attention to my words. I am quite certain that 
if I fall into any mistake, my intention at least is sincere. 

F. Antony of Jesus is here : he could not help coming. Al- 
though he has begun to defend himself like the other fathers, 
he now writes to your Reverence, and perhaps may be more 
fortunate than I have been in receiving an answer. I trust 
your Reverence will form a right judgment about all I tell you. 
As to the rest, may our Lord order everything how and as He 
pleases and sees best ! 

' I have heard of the decree of the General Chapter, which 
forbids me to leave the house which I may choose as my 
abode. The Provincial F. Angelo had sent the news to F. 
UUoa, with a command to notify the decree to me. He thought 
this would trouble me, for those fathers in procuring such a 



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264 Life of S. Teresa. 

decree Had the intentioii of giving me paiii; and on this 
account he kept the document in his hands, not yentoring to 
show it to me for more than a month. 

' But as I had been informed of the matter during that time 
from another quarter, I induced him to mention it to me. 

' I assure your Reverence in all sincerity, that, as &r as 
regards myself, it would have given me great pleasure and 
content had you sent this command to me by letter, sig- 
nifying that feeling compassion for me on account of the 
numerous labours and sufferings which I have endured in 
these foundations (and your Reverence knows well that I have 
but little strength), you had commanded me to take some rest 
as a recompense for what I had suffered. Knowing from whom 
such a command came, I should have felt great consolation in 
my repose. 

' But the sincere esteem I have for your Reverence makes 
me feel, on the other hand, that this command is somewhat 
rigorous, because it was sent to me as to one who had been 
very disobedient. So at least F. Angelo had represented 
it to the whole Court before I knew anything of the matter. 
Everyone thought it too great a restraint upon me ; and he 
informed me himself that I might obtain a remedy by writing 
to the Pope, as if it were not in fact a great relief to me ; and 
even though it had been a great affiction, never should I have 
dreamt of disobeying your Reverence, for God forbid that I 
should ever seek any pleasure against your will. I can tmly 
assure you (and our Lord is my witness) that if I have had 
any comfort in the labours, disquiets, afflictions and dis- 
tractions which I have endured, it was in the thought that I 
was doing your will and giving you pleasure ; and hence I 
hope that I shall now also receive the same comfort from ftd- 
filling the command of your Reverence. 

* I wished to obey your order immediately, but as Chnstmas 
was near, and the journey so long, my desire was not granted, 
as my director knew it was not the wish of your Reverence to 
hazard my health ; and so I am still here ; not however with 
the intention of always remaining in this house, but only till 
the winter is over, for I do not feel at home with the people 
of Andalusia. 



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Severity shown to the Convent of the Incarnation. 265 

* I humbly beg of your Reverence not to forget to write to 
me, wherever I may be ; but as I have nothing now to occupy 
me (which indeed is a great comfort to me), I fear you will 
forget me, though I shall endeavour to prevent this, for how- 
ever tired your Reverence may be of hearing from me, I shall 
not cease to write to you for my own comfort. 

' People never imagined here, nor do they yet believe, that 
the Council and the Pope's brief could take from Superiors the 
power of commanding religious to go from one house to 
another for the good of the Order, and for affairs which may 
arise connected with it. I do not mention this for my own 
sake, as I am now good for nothing, for if I knew I could 
thereby afford your Reverence the least pleasure, I would 
willingly remain all my life not only in the same house (for I 
am glad indeed to enjoy a little quiet and repose), but even in 
a prison. This I say in order to take away any scruples which 
yotir Reverence may have with regard to the past, for though 
furnished with your Lett^s Patent, I never would go to any 
place to found a monastery (and it is clear I could not leave 
my convent for any other cause) without a command or written 
permission from my superior. When I went to Veas and 
Caravaca, it was by the order of F. Angelo, and F. Gracian 
commanded me to come here, for he had then the same com- 
mission from the Nuncio that he has now, though he did not 
make use of it. 

'How can F. Angelo say then that I have come here as 
an Apostate or excommunicated person ? May Grod forgive 
him ! Your Reverence knows well, and can testify that I 
have always endeavoured to befriend him with you, and to 
please him in all things that were not displeasing to God, and 
yet he never would be friends with me. 

' It would have been much better had he turned against F. 
Valdemoro, who, being Prior of Avila, drove the discalced 
fathers from the Convent of the Incarnation, to the great 
scandal of the people. The convent was in such a good state 
as to make one praise God for it, and yet he treated the poor 
nuns so ill, that it was a pity to behold the great trouble they 
had to endure. They wrote to me to excuse the Prior, 
and they took all the blame upon themselves. The fathers 



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266 Life of S. Teresa. 

have, however, returned, and I am informed the Nuncio 
has forbidden all other Cannes to hear the confessions of 
the sisters. 

' The troubles of the poor religious have afflicted me ex- 
ceedingly, for they gave them nothing but bread, and they are 
still in trouble, and I feel much for them. May our Lord pro- 
vide a remedy for all these evils, and preserve your Reverence 
many years ! I am told that the General of the Dominicans is 
coming here. Would to God that you were here also ! My 
joy would then be complete, though I should on the other 
hand feel for you on account of the fatigue to which you. 
would be exposed from the journey. Thus I am content to 
wait for my consolation in that eternity which will have no 
end, where your Reverence will know how greatly you are 
indebted to me. 

' May our Lord grant in His mercy that I may one day 
arrive there ! I earnestly recommend myself to the prayers of 
those reverend fathers who accompany you. The religious of 
this house, the daughters of your Reverence, beg your bless- 
ing, and I ask the same favour for myself. 

' Your Reverence's unworthy daughter and subject, 

'Tbbesa of Jesus. 

* From Seville.' 

The other directions of the Chapter could not be carried out 
in the face of a King and a Nuncio so determined as Philip 
and Hormaneto. By the latter, F. Gracian was appointed 
Superior of all the houses of the reform throughout Spain, 
and Visitor of those of the mitigation in Andalusia. 

The foundation of Seville had advanced little fttrther in 
the Lent of 1576 than when S. Teresa arrived there in the 
preceding spring. 

She had no prospect of buying a house, no money for the 
purchase, and no person to stand security for her should she 
attempt to borrow any. Those who had induced F. Gracian 
to send for religious of the reform, on the strength of the 
numerous vocations which were ready to flock into the Order, 
now held back. The ladies of this wealthy and luxurious 
city were terrified at the severity of the rule. The time was 



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A Visit from the Inquisitor a. 267 

approaching for Teresa's return to CastUe, and though deeply 
concerned at leaving her daughters in so unsettled a position, 
she saw no use in prolonging her stay, perceiving, as she said, 
*that she was doing notlung at Seville.' 

Many fervent prayers, meantime, were oflfered to our Lord ; 
many pious processions made to implore our Lady and S. 
Joseph not to let the holy Mother depart till a house should 
be found for her children. 

Help came at last, and once more, as in a former fttrait, by 
the hand of that devout Christian and noble-hearted gentle- 
man, Laurence of Cepeda, who, with his brother, Peter of 
Ahumada, his three sons, and his little daughter Teresa, 
arrived at Seville in the preceding August, where, to his great 
joy, he had found his holy sister ready to greet him. By his 
exertions, and at his own personal inconvenience and risk — for, 
by some mistake with regard to the purchase, he had been on 
the point of being thrown into prison — ^the house was at last 
secured; but, before possession was taken, the patience of 
Teresa was exercised by a new trial. A certain postulant had 
been so strongly recommende.d as to draw from her the re- 
mark : * K this good soul does not work miracles before she 
dies, your reputation for wisdom will perish.' 

Tte supposed saint, having been crossed in her desire to 
practise certain private devotions, gave way to such sadness 
and discontent, as proved to the rehgious that she was in no 
way suited for their institute. She had no sooner left the 
convent than see felt herself bound in conscience to denounce 
the nuns to the holy requisition. Among other practices 
which her hypochondriacal humour had misinterpreted, was 
the manifestation of conscience to the Prioress. 

She asserted that the nuns went to confession to one 
another. This and other graver slanders she carried to a 
confessor, who unfortunately listened to her, and, moreover, 
carried the tale from one cloistered monastery to another, on 
the plea of consulting the learned religious of various Orders 
upon the subject. The consequence was, that one morning, 
when F. Gracian came to visit the holy Mother, he found 
a train of horsemen at the door, and was informed on enquiry 
that they were in attendance on the ministers of the Holy 



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268 Life of 8. Teresa.' 

Office who were engaged in the convent in examining the 
supposed crimes of the religions. The above-mentioned priest 
was standing with a sad and solemn countenance at the door, 
waiting to see the nuns carried forth to the prisons of the In- 
quisition. 

F. Gracian anxiously summoned Teresa, whom he found 
even more calm and bright than usual ; and, smiling at his 
face of consternation, she consoled him by the assurance that 
God wouTd never suffer the reputation of His servants to be 
stained by so black a calumny; and that He had Himself 
told her not to fear, for that * these clouds should pass away.' 
And, in fact, in a few hours the Inquisitors sent for the priest 
who had accused them, and severely reproved him, saying that 
if he had not maliciously invented the slander, he had at least 
shown himself incapable of the direction of consciences. 

With a view to her faller justification, the holy Mother was 
advised to send a narrative of her life, and a statement of her 
manner of prayer, to a learned and pious Jesuit, F. Roderick 
Alvarez, by whom both were approved and transmitted to the 
Inquisitors. 

' By this means,' says her biographer, ' the Lord was pleased 
that the hoHness of Mother Teresa and the virtuous lives of 
her religious should come to be better known and held in 
higher reputation.' In a letter to her niece. Mother M. 
Baptist (Mary of Ocampo), S. Teresa says : * I assure you that 
of aU the persecutions we have had to endure, none can 
bear the least comparison with what we have suffered at 
Seville. 

' When you know what has taken place, you will see I have 
reason for what I say, and that it will be a mercy of God if ^ 
we escape safely from these troubles, as at present we have 
every reason to hope we shall do. Blessed be our Lord, who 
can bring good out of everything ! As for me, I have ex- 
perienced a wonderful consolation in the midst of all these 
sufferings. If my brother had not been here, we could 
have done nothing. He has suffered much iu our cause, but 
with so much courage and generosity that we cannot suf- 
ficiently praise and thank our Lord. Our sisters have reason 
to love him, for in all this trouble he alone has stood our friend. 



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Pecbce in Tribulation, 269 

He is at present in hiding on onr acconnt, for lie was near 
being dragged to the town prison, which is a kind of hell, and 
all this without any sort of justice. 

' An exhorbitant demand was made upon us, and he was to 
suffer as our security. We hope to get this matter righted by 
an appeal to the Court. 

* As to my brother, he was glad to suffer something for God. 
He is now staying at the Convent of the Cannes with our 
father. Though troubles and vexations have rained upon hirn 
like hail, he feels our sufferings far more than his own, for 
which reason I conceal them from him as much as I can. To 
form an idea of them, recall to mind what I wrote to you before 
of the falsehoods which that novice had published about us ; this 
is nothing in comparison to what she has said since. I must 
tell you that in the midst of all the calumnies, by a special 
grace of God, my soul has been foil of consolation. Notwith- 
standing all the evils which I saw might result to our 
houses, my heart was filled with joy. What blessed things are 
peace of conscience and liberty of soul ! ' 

In the midst of all her trials at this time, Teresa was greatly 
consoled by the^ perfect sympathy and harmony which sub- 
sisted between her brother Laurence and her sister Jane, who, 
with her good husband John of Ovalle, had come to Seville to 
meet him. Of Teresa, the little daughter of Laurence of 
Cepeda, whom she always mentions under her pet name of 
Teresita, she thus writes to F. Gracian: 'We have con- 
sulted one of the best theologians of the company of Jesus 
about our little Teresa ; he tells us that it has been decided by 
the Council of Trent that a girl under the age of twelve 
cannot receive the religious habit, but that she may be brought 
up in a convent. Teresita is here with her habit already, to 
her father's great joy ; you would say she is the familiar spirit 
of the house. AH the nuns are delighted with her. There is 
something really angelic in her disposition, and she enlivens 
our recreations by her wonderfiil tales of the Lidians and the 
sea, which she tells much better than I could do myself. I 
am so glad to see that our sisters do not consid'er her a trouble. 
God has bestowed on her a great grace, and she ought to be 
very grateftd to you for it. I believe it will be for God's ser- 



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270 Life of 8. Teresa. 

vice that this soul should be brought up £ar fi<om the vanities 
of the world.* 

About a month after the nuns were settled in their new 
convent, the Blessed Sacrament was placed there on the Feast 
of the Ascension hj the Archbishop himself, who carried it in 
solemn procession, accompanied by the secular clergy, religious 
orders, confraternities, and principal nobility of the place, de- 
signing by this public demonstration to make amends to the 
religious for the calumnies and persecutions which they had 
endured. When Teresa knelt to ask his pastoral benediction, 
to her great conftision the Archbishop, in the presence of all 
the people, knelt to ask hers in return, thus testifying the 
high estimation in which he held her, and the work which she 
had begun. 

Before her departure from Seville, S. Teresa sent Mother 
Anne of S. Albert to found the convent at Garavaca. An 
application had been made some time before for this founda- 
tion by three noble ladies, who devoted themselves and their 
wealth to the work. 

S. Teresa left Seville on June 4, and before taking up her 
abode at Toledo, visited Malagon and Avila,, whence she had 
been directed by our Lord to take with her as her inseparable 
companion that holy servant of God, Sister Anne of S. Bartho- 
lomew, who had received the religious habit at Avila in the year 
1570, and was the first lay sister of the reform. S. Teresa's 
original intention had been that all the sisters should be equal, 
but finding that the duties of the choir were interrupted by the 
necessary household occupations, she decided upon t}ie admis- 
sion of a certain number of lay sisters. Anne of S. Bartho- 
lomew, in the midst of her labours, attained to a high degree 
of contemplation. S. Teresa observing that in the fervour of 
her prayer she neglected to take the necessary repose, gave 
her an obedience to interrupt her contemplation at the com- 
mon signal, and go to rest with the other sisters. On the 
night when she had received this command, she was, as usual, 
rapt in prayer when the bell rang. She immediately broke 
ofi*, saying to our Lord with aU simplicity : ' Lord, I have no 
permission to stay any longer with Thee ; suffer me to go and 
sleep as I am commanded to do.' She went to bed, aud she, 



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Anne of S. Bartholomew. 271 

who usTially was unable to close her eyes, slept soundly till the 
awakening beU in the morning, when she found our Lord still 
present, as if waiting for her rising, in token of His accept- 
ance of her ready obedience. 

By command of her confessor, this holy sister wrote an 
account of her own life, in which she says : ' I remember that, 
when I was a child, I used often to say to our Lord : " My 
Gt>d, if I could Hve with a Saint I should lead a better life ! " 
and yet,' she adds, ' though I have Hved with such a great 
Saint as Mother Teresa, I have never followed her example ! " 
On the other hand, S. Teresa would often say : * O Anne, 
Anne, you have the works of a Saint and I have the reputation 
of one ! ' After the death of S. Teresa, Anne of S. Bartholo- 
mew accompanied Anne of Jesus into France, and having, by 
the command of her Superiors, received the veil of a chgir 
sister, she was sent into Flanders, where she founded the Car- 
melite convent at Antwerp. 

Teresa took with her from Seville her beloved niece Tere- 
sita, and she speaks in her first letter from Malagon to Mary 
of S. Joseph of the child's sadness at leaving her Mothers at 
Seville. 

She reached Toledo in the beginning of July, leaving F. 
Gracian busy in his visitation of Andalusia. 

Angelo of Salazar, the Provincial of Castile, had summoned 
a Chapter of that province in the preceding May, to carry out 
the decrees of the Chapter of Placencia. To this assembly he 
invited only the Priors of Mancera and Pastrana, and the 
Rector of Alcal^ accounting the rest of the discalced fathers 
to be excommunicated. 

F. Grracian, on the other hand, assembled a Chapter of the 
discalced friars at Almodovar, to make the regulations re- 
quisite in the present posture of affairs. 



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272 Life of S. Teresa. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
1576-1579. 

LBTTEBS TO F. GBA.CIAN AND F. MABIANO ON THE AFPAIE8 
OF THE OBDEB — HSS. OF THE HISTORY OF S. TEBESA's LIFE 
APPEOVED BY THE OBAND INaiTISITOB — BOOK OF THE FOUNDA- 
TIONS — DEATH OF THE NUNCIO — ^HIS 8UCCES80B, PHILIP SEGA — 
SEVEBITIES EXEBCISBD AGAINST THE BEFOBM — S. TEBESA IS 
• SENT TO AVILA TO MAKE ABBANGEMENTS FOB PLACING THE 
CONVENT OF 8. JOSEPH UNDEE THE JUBISDICTION OF THE OBDEB 
— ^LETTEB TO THE KING — THE SAINT's ABM IS BBOKEN — 
PEBSECUTION BAISED AGAINST THE NUNS OF THE INCABNA- 
TION — DCPBISONMENT OF S. JOHN OF THE CBOSS. 

In her quiet cell at Toledo, Teresa's heart vibrated with every 
movement of the conflict which now agitated the reform. We 
can trace its history in the letters which she wrote at this 
period, especially in those to Fathers Gracian and Marieiio, 
and to the Prioress of Seville. It was her great desire that 
F. Qraciaji should be relieved from his thankless office of 
Visitor of the mitigation, and be free to attend exclusively to 
the religions of the reform, and that measures should be taken 
to procure from the Father General, or, failing him, from the 
Pope, the erection of the reform as a separate province, subject 
only to the GeneraL In the meantime she advises that the 
mitigated friars should be treated with all gentleness consistent 
with the needful exercise of authority. There was no fear of 
F. Gracian erring on the side of severity, save when, frozn 
lack of flmmess, he was at times influenced by the Fathers 
Mariano and Antony of Jesus. S. Teresa was, as she says, 
at continual warfare with the former, now for excessive harsh- 
ness towards his opponents, and again for rash confidence in 
their professions of friendship. 



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Letter to Father Gradan. 273 

S. Teresa writes on September 20, 1576, to Father Gracian 
at Almodovar. * Our fathers bring me good tidings from 
the Chapter, and I am delighted to Hear how well everything 
has gone on there. Glory be to Qtod ! Assuredly, my 
Reverend Father, yon cannot escape this time receiving great 
commendation. All is the work of God's hand, and prayers, 
as yon say, have donbtless had much to do with it. I rejoice 
to hear that a zelator has been appointed for the houses : this is 
a most excellent and useM measure. I have recommended 
him to insist particularly on manual labour, which is a matter 
of the utmost importance. . . . He also spoke much' to me of 
the plan which is in agitation to obtain from our Most 
Reverend Father General the erection of a separate province, 
and to use every means in our power for the attainment of 
this object. It is indeed a miserable thing to be at warfare 
with the Superior of the Order. For the love of God, 
Reverend Father, do not delay to send deputies to Rome. Do 
not look upon this as a mere accessory, for it is the principal 
point. K nothing but money is wanted, God will send it to 
us. If the Prior of PeHuela is in such favour with the Father 
General it would be well to send him with F. Mariano. K 
nothing can be obtained from the General, then let them 
apply to the Pope. But the first plan would be far best ; and 
there will never be a better time than the present, considering 
the good feeling entertained towards us by the Nuncio, and his 
present state. I cannot see what we are waiting for ; we are 
all contenting ourselves with a precarious position, and losing 
a most favourable opportunity of placing the reform on a 
permanent footing.' . . . She writes again : * The letters 
which your paternity wrote to P. Mariano, and which he 
sent me to read, have given me great joy. It is a history 
which has led me to pour forth praises to otir Lord. I know 
not where your head gathers so much skill and genius. 
Blessed be He who has bestowed it on you ! It is plain that 
it is His work ; therefore, dear Father, keep always in mind 
that it is a grace from God, and have no confidence in 
yourself.' Again, with regard to his visitation in Andalusia : 
* K God had not shown me by His light that all the good we 
do emanates from Him, revealing to me at the same time how 

T 



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274 Life of S. Teresa. 

little we can do by ourselveB, I confess that I should be 
tempted to take a little pride in your success in Andalusia. 
May His name be praised and blessed for ever ! Amen ! 
What I admire most is the great tranquillity with which you 
do everything, and your talent for changing enemies into 
Mends, and making them the authors, or rather the executors, 
of the good which you wish to introduce.' In her letters 
written during the time of this conflict, Teresa was obliged to 
use the precaution of giving feigned names to the principal 
persons of whom she is writing ; thus our Divine Lord bears 
the name of Jos&ph; F. Ghracian is called sometimes Pauly 
sometimes Eliseua ; the Saint herself sometimes Angela^ some- 
times Laurencia ; the Nuncio is Methusalem ; and the Inquisi- 
tors, Angels, &c. &c. In this letter she says playftdly: 
* I do not think that all which Pcml now endures equals the 
terror which he experienced at the visitation of the Angels ' — 
referring to the visit of the Inquisitors to the convent at 
Seville. 

On the Vigil of All Saints she writes : * I took the habit on 
All Souls Day ; pray to Grod to make me a good Carmelite 
nun : better late than never.' 

The departure of the deputies for Rome was still delayed. 
S. Teresa writes to F. John of Jesus de Roca, one of the leading 
fathers of the reform : * I must teU you that I have very little 
power in this matter. I have been long urging it, and I have 
not yet been able even to get a letter written to him who 
ought to be addressed' (apparently the Greneral). *I had 
hoped, as I was led to expect, that the departure of the 
deputies would have been arranged at Almodovar.' 

To F. Mariano she writes: *I am surprised that you 
should have so much confidence in our fathers of the miti- 
gation: I am far from sharing it. With regard to Father 
Valdemoro ' (Prior of the mitigated Cannes of Avila), ' I 
do not think him at all disposed to do us good ; and if he 
appears friendly to us, it is only to penetrate our designs, and 
to give notice of them to his friends.' Again : ' I have had a 
visit to-day from the good Valdemoro. I believe he speaks 
truth in professing friendship for us just now; it is for his 
own interest. He talks to me pf how S. Paul persecuted the 



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Admce as to the Visitation of Convents. 275 

Christiaais, and of what he did afterwards. Let hiTYi do for 
God the tenth part of what S. Paul did, and we will forgive 
him for what he has done, and for what he may still do 
against ns. 

' He begs me to ask you to receive his brother. The only 
thing which I think we can do in return for his Mendship is 
to recommend him to God .... May God give hiTvi health 
better than his intentions ! Afber aU, there are twelve hours 
in the day, and perhaps he may be changed.' 

F. Antony of Jesus was a source of no less uneasiness 
to the Saint than F. Mariano, on account of his great de- 
ficiency in the gift of government, whereby he was perpetu- 
ally embroiling matters in the convents which he was deputed 
to visit. Many a time was she reminded of her thoughts 
when the good old man offered himself ten years before as the 
first postulant of her reform : ' I was not altogether satisfied 
with the Prior.' Yet he it was, and not F. Gracian, or S. John 
of the Cross, who, having been her first fellow- worker, was to 
have the privilege of ministering at her death-bed, and bidding 
that glorious spirit depart to its Grod. 

F. Antony of Jesus, in his visitation of one of the convents, 
had disturbed the minds of the nuns by making a number of 
new regulations, against which S. Teresa appeals to F. Gracian. 

' Believe me. Reverend Father,' says she, ' that these houses 
are going on very well, and have no need to be burdened 
with new ceremonies : everything which is added is a fresh 
load for religious to bear. I beseech you in the name of 
charity not to forget this. The Visitor's duty is to insist on 
the exact observation of the constitutions, and to require 
nothing more : the nuns will do welj if they keep these.' 

. F. John of Jesus seems to have Mien into the same fault in 
his visitation of another convent, and again the watchful 
mother enters her protest. 

'. ' You see. Reverend Father, the burden which this fether 
has imposed upon the reKgious by the multitude of rules which 
he has drawn up in his visitation. The things which my 
nuns most fear, is to see certain hard and austere Superiors 
lay upon them a yoke which can only serve to discourage and 
crush them under its weight. It is a very strange thing that 

t2 



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276 Life of 8. Teresa. 

some people think they have not visited a monastery nntil they 
have made a number of new regxdations, whereas this is to 
destroy all the benefit of a visitation. With regard to recreation, 
for instance, if there is to be no recreation on days of Com- 
munion, is it not plain that priests who say Mass daily onght 
never to have any recreation at all ? But if they are dispensed 
from this rule, is it just to impose it upon others who are 
younger, and therefore have greater need of recreation ? This 
father writes to me that as this house has never been visited, 
he had been obliged to use this severity. I will hope that he 
did not act without reason, but I have been so tired with only 
reading the multitude of regulations which he has made, that 
I know not what would have become of me if I had been 
obliged to keep them. Believe me. Father, our rule is not to 
be interpreted by such austere persons : it is quite sufficiently 
austere in itself.' 

In the February 1576, S. Teresa writes to her brother 
Laurence that her mind has been relieved with regard to the 
manuscript of her life which had been sent for by the Inquisi- 
tion. *I have received,' says she, * good news of my papers. 
The Grand Inquisitor, contrary to his custom, has read them 
himself, no doubt because he had heard them praised. He 
told Dofia Louisa de la Cerda that there was no work for the 
Inquisition in these papers ; for, that far from being injurious, 
they contained many excellent things. He also expressed 
surprise that I had not founded a convent in Madrid. This 
prelate, Don Gaspar de Quiroga, who has just been made 
Archbishop of Toledo, is very favourable to our reform.' 

S. Teresa finished the book of her life in 1566. In No- 
vember 1577, she finished hfer Interior Cattle, which she had 
begun on the Feast of the Holy Trinity in the same year^at 
I'oledo. Not the least wonderftil thing connected with that 
wonderfal book is the fact of its having been composed at a 
time of , such intense mental anxiety. S. Teresa teaches us, 
in the passages which we have extracted from it, the secret of 
that peace surpassing all understanding which springs from 
the close union of the soul with God, and her words bear a 
twofold weight when taken in connection with the time at 
which they were written. 



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Book of the Foundations. 277 

At Toledo S. Teresa also continued the history of her foun- 
dations, by the direction of F. Grracian, to whom she writes 
in October 1576 ; 'I am now about to continue the narrative 
of the Foimdations, Joseph (our Divine Lord) has told me 
that this book will do good to many souls, and if fie helps me 
I believe it will. But independently of this command, I had 
determined to continue the narrative simply in obedience to 
your injunction.' 

S. Teresa had began this book in 1573 at Salamanca by 
the direction of her Confessor F. Jerome Ripalda, the Rector 
of the Jesuits' College in that city. The persecution which 
had now set in against the reform led her to believe that the 
foundation of Caravaca was to be her last, and she writes on 
November 14, 1576 : 'I have written the last page to-day in the 
monastery of S. Joseph at Toledo. This book is at last foiished, 
and I beg of my Superiors to strike out whatever may be ill 
said, and perhaps that will be what I consider to be said best. 
I have finished this work by conmiand of our Father Gracian, 
Visitor Apostolic of the Carmes and Carmelites of the primi- 
tive rule and Visitor of the mitigated Carmes in Andalusia. 
May this book bring honour and glory to our Lord Jesus 
Christ, Who reigns and shall reign for ever and ever ! Amen. 
I beseech, in the name of God, my sons and my daughters who 
shall read these pages to recommend me to our Lord, that He 
may have mercy upon me and deliver me fix)m the pains of 
Purgatory, which I may have deserved, and grant me the en- 
joyment of His Divine Presence. As this book will not be put 
into your hands during my life, it is just that at least after my 
death, if you should be permitted to read it, I should receive 
some reward for the labour which it has cost me, and for the 
exceeding desire which I have had in writing it to give some 
consolation to your souls.' 

The death of the Nuncio, in June 1577, fell like a thunder- 
bolt on the reform. As notwithstanding S. Teresa's urgent 
remonstrances no vigorous measures had been taken for the 
establishment of a separate province, it was left at the mercy 
of his successor, who came strongly prepossessed against it by 
the mitigated Carmes, and resolved to root it up as a dangerous 
novelty. 



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278 Life of S. Teresa. 

The mission of Philip Sega is a lesson on the mischief which 
may be done by excellent people, with the best intentions, and 
a fi^sh chapter in the history of persecutions inflicted by 
the good on their betters. 

The new Nnncio was a near kinsman of the recently elected 
Pope, Gregory lH., and was hononrably distingmshed both for 
his learning and piety. like his predecessor, he was an in- 
timate Mend of the great ecclesiastical reformer S. Charles 
Borromeo, who, it is said, nsed to ask him to tell him his faults. 
His love of holy poverty is recorded in his epitaph, and yet this 
friend of holy poverty and confidant of S. Charles had allowed 
himself to be so strongly prejudiced against S. Teresa and her 
reform, that he came to Spain ftOly determined to sacrifice it 
to what he accounted the general good of the Order. Of S. 
Teresa he scrupled not to affirm that she was a restless, dis- 
obedient and contumacious woman, who, under pretext of devo- 
tion, had invented pernicious doctrines ; who was accustomed 
to leave her cloister, contrary to the command of the Council 
of Trent, and to set herself up for a teacher in the Church, in 
direct opposition to the precept of S. Paul. 

The opinions of the new Nuncio were soon known in Spain, 
and the Yicar-G^neral Tostado, who had been prevented by 
Hormaneto from exercisrog his powers, now declared open 
warfare against the reform. He forbade the foundation of any 
new house, or the reception of any new novices, by which 
means he hoped gradually to destroy the already existing 
foundations. Moreover, he claimed submission from all the 
Superiors of the reform. F. Gracian, foreseeing the tempest 
that was impending, had hastened to Madrid, on the news of 
the late Nuncio's death, to resign the commission which he 
had received from him ; but it being the opinion of the most 
learned doctors of Salamanca and Alcala that his poweft did 
not expire with the life of him from whom he had received 
them, he was compelled to retain his office. 

In the month of September of this year, S. Teresa was sent 
to the Convent of S. Joseph's at Avila, to make arrangements 
for placing it under the jurisdiction of the Order, our Lord 
having made known to her that the reason for which it had 
been subjected to that of the Bishop no longer existed, and 



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Letter to the King. 279 

that its discipline and religious perfection would snflter were it 
to continue in its isolated position. Her personal influence 
was needed to reconcile the good Bishop of Avila to the loss of 
a community in which he had ever been so deeply interested, 
and to induce the nuns to forego his fatherly care. 

The matter was at length arranged, subject to only one 
condition on the part of the Bishop, viz. that he should bear 
the privilege of sepulture in their chapel, and that S. Teresa 
herself should also be buried there. 

From Avila S. Teresa writes the following letter to the 
King, craving protection from a calumny brought against 
F. Graoian, which was afterwards rendered harmless by the 
retractation of both the accusers : — 

* September 13, 1577. 

' Jesus. The grace of the Holy Spirit be ever with your 
Majesty ! Amen. 

' I have heard that a memorial has been presented to your 
Majesty against the Rev. F. Gracian. This stratagem of 
the devil and his ministers has indeed terrified me, because, 
not content with defaming the character of this great servant 
of God (and he is truly such, for he gives edification to all of 
us, and whenever he visits our monasteries, he fills the 
religious with renewed fervour), his enemies are now striving 
to injure those houses in which our Lord is so devoutly 
served. 

' For this purpose they have made use of two Carmelite 
friars ; one of whom was a servant in our monastery before he 
took the habit ; but he conducted himself in such a way more 
than once, as plainly to show us he possessed but Httle 
judgment. The enemies of F. Gracian have induced others 
who" are opposed to him, because (as Visitor) he has the 
power of punishing them, to sign such foolish charges against 
the nuns, that I should certainly laugh at them, were I not 
fearful lest the devil might be able to draw some evil from 
them. Such accusations, if true, would be monstrous, con- 
sidering the habit we wear. 

' I beseech your Majesty, tten, for the love of Gt)d, not to 
allow such scandalous charges to be brought before a court of 



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280 Life of S. Teresa. 

justice, because the world might be inclined to believe that 
we had done something to give occasion for them, even 
though our innocence should be proved, and our reform, 
hitherto so blessed by the Divine goodness, would be seriously 
injured by the least stain of this kind. Your Majesty would 
be able to form a judgment in the matter, should you be 
pleased to read the attestation which F. Gracian has iiiought 
proper to draw up respecting these monasteries. It includes 
the testimony of several persons of great weight and hohness, 
who have had communications with the nuns. Moreover, 
since the motive by which these are influenced who have 
written the memorial can easily be discovered, I beseech your 
Majesty to examine the matter, because the honour and glory 
of God are concerned; for if our enemies should see that 
some attention is paid to their charges, they will not hesitate, 
in order to prevent a visitation, to accuse as a heretic whoever 
shall undertake to make it ; and, where there is no fear of 
God, there would be no difficulty in finding false testimony. 

* I sympathise deeply with the sufferings of this servant of 
God, which he endures with such patience and perfection ; and 
this induces me to beseech your Majesty to take hiTn under 
your protection, so as to remove the cause of these dangers, 
for he belongs to a family that is extremely attached to your 
Majesty : independently of this consideration, he has great 
merit of his own. I consider him to be a man sent to us by 
God and our Blessed Lady, for whom he has a most tender de- 
votion. Our Lord led him to our Order, that he might be an 
assistance to me, for, as I have now laboured alone for more 
than seventeen years, my weak health will not allow me to 
endure much more. I beg of your Majesty to pardon me, for 
having entered so ftilly into this matter, but the great respect 
which I have for your Majesty emboldened me to do so : for 
I considered that as our Lord endured my iiyliscreet complaints, 
so also would your Majesty. May God be pleased to hear all 
the prayers of the rehgious of our reform that your Majesty 
may have a long life ; for we have no other protector on earth. 
I remain your Majesty's unworthy servant and subject, 

' Teresa of Jesus.' 



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Her Arm is broken by the Agency of the Devil. 281 

During the Cliristinas festival of 1577 the patience of S. 
Teresa was exercised by the effects of a painful accident, which 
befel her, as she says herself, by the agency of the devil. As 
she was ascending the steps which led to the choir before 
Comphne with a candle in her hand, she was suddenly thrown 
down by a violent blow, and fell from the top to the bottom 
with such violence that the religious who hastened to assist 
her expected to find her dead. When they raised her they found 
that her arm was broken. A woman was sent for who was 
skilled in surgery, but being iU at the time she did not 
arrive till the end of the month of April. As the Saint fore- 
saw that the operation would be painftd, to spare the religious 
the suffering of witnessing it, she sent them to the choir to 
pray for her. In the meantime, after the rough fashion of 
surgery in those days, the woman and her companion went 
to work so violently to set the broken limb that the bones were 
dislocated. Teresa uttered not a cry, but contemplated the 
violence with which our Lord was stretched on the Cross, and 
when the sisters returned from the chapel she told them with 
a smile that she would have been very sorry to have missed 
this opportunity of suffering something for Him. 

One of the first enterprises of F. Tostado under shelter of 
the patronage of the new Nuncio, was directed against the 
nuns of the Incamation, who had once more ventured to elect 
S. Teresa as their Prioress. The Provincial of the mitigated 
Carmes, F. John of S. Magdalen, by the direction of F. 
Tostado, ' came ' (says S. Teresa in a letter to the Prioress of 
Seville) * to preside at the election of the Prioress. Such a scene 
followed as was never seen before. He threatened the religious 
who should give me their votes with exconmiunication. Ne- 
vertheless, undismayed by his threats, fiffcy-five rehgious voted 
for me as if he had never said a word. As the Provincial re- 
ceived each separate suffrage, he poured forth his malediction 
on the rehgious who presented it, and declaring her excom- 
municated, he struck the paper with his fist, tore it, and threw 
it into the fire. The nuns have been excommunicated now for 
nearly a fortnight ; they cannot hear Mass, nor enter the 
choir during office, nor speak to anyone, even to their confessor 
or relations. What is still more singular, on the day follow- 



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282 Life of 8. Teresa. 

ing this stormy election, the Provincial stunmoned them to begin 
another. They replied that they had no election to make, for 
they had already made it. He excommunicated them again, 
and having assembled the forty-fonr nnns who had not voted 
for me, he caused them to make another election, and sent the 
proceS'Verhal to F. Tostado for confirmation. The confirmation 
has already arrived, but the rehgious are firm in their oppo- 
sition, and declare they will only acknowledge the Prioress 
elected by the minority, as Vice-Prioress. Theologians say that 
they are not excommunicated, and that the mitigated Cannes 
have gone against the decree of the Council of Trent, which 
ordains that elections be made by the plurality of votes. The 
religious who voted for me sent word to F. Tostado that they 
will have me for Prioress : he replied that he will not have me, 
adding, that if I choose to go to the Incarnation to recollect 
myself, I may, but that he will never endure me as Prioress. 

' I know not how all this will end, but matters stand thus 
now ; everyone is surprised and grieved. I would willingly 
pardon those who have elected me, if they would leave me in 
peace, for I have no desire to be in the midst of this Babylon, 
especially with my weak health, which has never been good in 
that house. May God order everything for His greater glory, 
and deliver me from that office ! ' 

The religious of the Incarnation at last yielded to the ad- 
vice of the Saint, and accepted the Prioress who had been 
imposed upon them ; and towards the end of November, the 
Nuncio, at the King's desire, withdrew the censures under 
which they had been laid. But on the very same occasion, 
their two confessors, S. John of the Cross and his companion, 
were violently carried away and imprisoned; their papers 
were seized, and it was on this occasion that the precious 
series of letters from S. Teresa to S. John of the Gross 
perished. Before the search began, S. John destroyed the 
letters, tearing up some, and actually swallowing others. His 
place of imprisonment was for a long time concealed. S. 
Teresa writes of his enchcmtment, as if he lay in durance like 
an imprisoned knight of romance under the power of some 
wicked magician. 



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Imprisonment of 8, John of the Cross. 283 

He had, in fact, been removed from the convent at Avila 
to that of the mitigated Carmes at Toledo ; so that for nearly 
a year he was close to her without her being aware of it. 

Of the heroic virtues practised by S. John during his im- 
prisonment, the following narrative was famished at the pro- 
cess for his Beatification, by one of the religious who guarded 
him : — ' I knew F. John of the Cross when he was imprisoned 
in our convent at Toledo, when he had every kind of oppor- 
tunity of practising virtue. Indeed, I was ftdly persuaded that 
he was even then a real Saint, for, in the midst of all his 
sufferings, he always evinced such a deep humility and such 
heroic courage, that, far from being depressed by the ill- 
treatment which he endured, he preserved such an evenness 
of soul under it all, as showed the perfection of his love and 
his firm confidence in the Divine mercy. He was so grateftil 
also, that it seemed as if he did not know how to show his 
thankftdness for any little service that I was able to render to 
him. He showed his love of suffering by his unvarying 
patience under it, never did the slightest word of murmur or 
resentment against any person whomsoever escape him.' 

The same witness gives the following account of his cap- 
tivity : — ' By the permission of our Lord, he was seized by the 
fathers of the observance in the city of Avila, where he was 
confessor to the nuns of the Incarnation, who are subject to 
the Order, and thence he was brought to Toledo, where he 
was shut up in a very dark dungeon. The religious who 
guarded him having been removed, the Prior entrusted the 
care of him to me. I found his health broken by the great 
suffering which he endured from his close imprisonment, but 
he never complained. Touched with compassion at the sight 
of his patience, I sometimes left the door open that he might 
take a little air in the adjoining corridor, and I lefb him alone 
that he might be in greater freedom. I could only do this at 
the time that the religious retired to rest at mid-day, and 
when I began to fear that some of them were coming, I used 
to warn him that it was time to retire, when he would em- 
brace me, and thank me with joined hands for the charity 
which I showed him.' 



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284 Life of 8. Teresa. 

In his prison of Toledo S. John of the Cross enjoyed Divine 
favours which made his captivity sweet to him, and, though 
so reserved in speech that he made them known to few during 
his Hfetime, we may gather from his works that our Lord at 
that time rewarded his courage and his love by the closest 
union with Himself. 



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285 



CHAPTER XX. 
1578, 1579. 

F. NICOLAS SOBIA — ^LETTER OF S. TERESA TO F. GRACIAN OX 
RECEITING INTELLIGENCE OF THE DEATH OF THE FATHER- 
GENERAL — CALUMNIES AND CONSEQUENT PERSECUTION AGAINST 
F. GRACIAN AND THE NUNS OF SEVILLE — LETTER FROM 8. 
TERESA TO THE MOTHER PRIORESS, MART OF S. JOSEPH— THE 
DISCALCED FATHERS DETERMINE UPON HOLDING A CHAPTER 
FOR THE ERECTION OF AN INDEPENDENT PROVINCE — LBT133RS 
OF S. TERESA UPON THE SUBJECT. 

The Vicar-Greneral, Tostado, was compelled by royal authority 
to leave Spain in November 1577, and carried his grievances 
to Rome, but the reform gained little by his absence, as the 
Nuncio took matters into his own hands, and insisted on the 
immediate submission of all its members to the Superiors of 
the mitigation. In the March of 1578, a subject of consider- 
able importance both from character and position was added 
to its ranks in the person of Nicolas Doria, of the illustrious 
Genoese house of that name, who, having been sent to Spain 
on some affairs of the republic, received a vocation first to the 
priesthood and then to the Order of Mount Carmel. 'That he 
should have had the courage and generosity, having already 
attained middle age, to join what must then have seemed a 
forlorn hope, certainly bespeaks a character deserving the high 
t^rms of commendation in which S. Teresa writes of him : — 
' It would seem,' she says, ' that our Lord had called him to 
the assistance of our Order. The others who might have 
aided us were shortly afterwards exiled or imprisoned, but as 
he was new in religion, little notice was taken of him, so that 
God made use of him for our assistance. He was so prudent 



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286 ' Life of S. Teresa. 

and wary that he remained at Madrid in the convent of the 
mitigated fathers, on pretext of other business, and such was 
his subtilty and dexteriiy that they never found out that he 
was managing ours; so they let him stay. I often corre- 
sponded with him when I was in the Convent of S. Joseph's 
at Avila, and we concerted together what was most expedient 
to be done, to his great consolation. Hence may be seen the 
necessity to which our Order was then reduced, since, for 
want of good men such account was made of me.' In the 
following year, when matters seemed darker still, she writes 
to F. Gracian: — 'F. Nicolas spent three or four days with 
me at Avila. Great has been my consolation to see that you 
will at last have some one with whom you may take counsel 
concerning the affairs of the Order, who will be able to help 
you, for it has been a great pain to me to see that there are so 
few amongst us from whom you can receive assistance. F. 
Nicolas certainly seems to me to be a man of sense and judg- 
ment, and a true servant of Grod, although he has not that 
extraordinary gracd and sweetness which our Lord has given 
to Paul, for there are few on whom he bestows so many graces 
at once. . . . Therefore, Reverend Father, place confi- 
dence in him, for, if I mistake not, great benefits will arise 
therefrom.' In another letter she says : ' You will never have 
anything to suffer from F. Nicolas.' The vision of the future 
was mercifally veiled from the eyes of the Saint. It was not 
till she beheld it from Heaven that she knew the sufferings 
which were to be inflicted upon her beloved and venerated 
Father by the self-opiniated obstinacy of one whom, notwith- 
standing his many excellences, F. Bouix characterises as the 
Tiard Genoese, * He sacrificed F. Gracian,' says he, * because 
he was incapable of understanding him,' and on the same 
false testimony on which he and his associates had previously 
condenmed S. John of the Cross. The infallible decision of 
the Apostolic See reversed the sentence upon both. 

On October 15, 1578, S. Teresa writes to F. Gracian on 
receiving intelligence of the death of the Father- General 
Rossi: *The news which I have just heard of the death 
of our Father- General Rossi has given me great pain, and I 
have not been able to refrain from weeping bitterly. It grieves 



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Death of the Father OeTieral. 287 

me to think of all the trouble we have given him, which cer- 
tainly he did not deserve. K we had gone straight to him, all 
our difficulties would have been removed. May God forgive 
those who have always hindered it, as but for them I could 
have prevailed with you, although you have not paid much 
attention to what I have said upon this subject. May God 
turn all to our greater good ! ' She proceeds to say that she 
would no longer advise sending deputies to Rome. ' I have 
just seen my brother Laurence, who commends himself to your 
prayers. We are all agreed here that now our Father- General 
is dead, it is no longer expedient to send any of our religious to 
Bome. First, because their journey could not be kept secret, 
and they would probably be taken by the mitigated fathers 
before they could leave Castile ; and secondly, because they 
are not sufficiently conversant with affairs at Bome, and having 
no longer our Father-Greneral to look to, they might be taken 
in the streets as fdgitives ; and if we have not been able to 
liberate F. John of the Cross, who was close at hand, what 
could we do for them there ? ' 

Early in the year 1579, a malignant accusation was made 
against F. Gracian and the nuns of Seville, which touched 
even S. Teresa herself. The Prioress, Mary of S. Joseph, was 
deposed, and the whole community subjected to a persecution 
the severity of which may be gathered fix)m the following 
letter, overflowing with maternal affection, which was ad- 
dressed to them by S. Teresa : — 

* January 31, 1579. 

* JesTis. The grace of the Holy Spirit be with you, my 
daughters and sisters! 

' Be assured that I never loved you so much as I do now, 
neither have you ever had such an occasion for returning 
thanks to our Lord as you have now ; for He bestows a great 
favour upon you by making you taste Something of the 
bitterness of His Cross, and of that abandonment which He 
felt when He hung upon it. Happy was the day on which 
you entered Seville, where such opportunities for acquiring 
merit have been prepared for you ! I really envy your hap- 
piness ; and to tell you the truth, when I heard of all these 



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288 Life of 8. Teresa. 

changes which were told me without any exaggeration, bat 
above all, when I heard that they wished to drive you out of 
your house, and other particulars of the same kind, so far 
from being afflicted at these trials, I felt the greatest interior 
joy to see that, without making you cross the seas, our Lord 
wished to show you the mines of eternal treasures with which 
His Majesty desires to enrich your souls, that so you may dis- 
tribute them to those around you. 

' I trust in His mercy that He will help you to bear your 
troubles, without offending Him in anything. Be not dis- 
couraged if you feel them somewhat too sensibly ; for our 
Lord permits this in order to show you that you are not so 
strong as you supposed when you were so desirous of suffering. 
Courage, my daughters, courage ! Remember Grod does not 
send us greater troubles than we can bear, and that His 
Majesty is ever with the afflicted ; since then this is certainly 
the truth, you have nothing to fear ; rather should you hope 
in His mercy that the truth will be in time discovered ; then 
will be known by what artifices the devil has caused these 
trials which you now endure. 

'Pray, pray, my sisters; and prove your humility and 
obedience by your submission, and especially by that of your 
late Prioress, to the newly appointed Superioress. Oh ! what 
a favourable opportunity you now have for gathering the 
fruits of those generous resolutions which you have made to 
serve our Lord ! Remember that He often wishes to try us, 
in order to see if our works agree with our words. Do credit 
to your sisters, the daughters of Mary, by your patient en- 
durance of this terrible persecution. 

' If you will help yourselves, our good Jesus will help you ; 
and though He may sometimes sleep upon the waters, yet 
when the storm is fiercest He commands the winds to be still. 
He wishes us to invoke his assistance, and He loves us to 
such a degree that He is always seeking for means to advance 
us in holiness. May His Name be blessed for ever ! Amen. 
Amen. Amen. 

• ' All the religious of our houses continually pray for you ; 
this encourages me to hope in the goodness of Grod that 
your troubles will soon be at an end. Therefore, be of good 



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Enccmragement under Persecution. 289 

cheer, considering that whatever yon snffer for so good a Gt)d 
is bnt little, for One too who has endnred so mnch for ns. 
Eemember you have not as yet shed your blood for Him; 
that yon are living among your sisters, and not at Algiers. 
Leave it all to your Spouse, and you will soon behold the sea 
swallow up all our enemies, just as it swallowed up Pharaoh 
and his army, and delivered the people of God. Then shall 
we desire fresh sufferings and new troubles, considering the 
great advantages which we have already gained from past 
affictions. I have received your letter, and I am sorry that 
you have burnt what you wrote, because it might have been 
useftil to us on this occasion. You need not, according to the 
opinion of learned men in these parts, have given up my 
letters, but it is of little consequence. Would to God that all 
the faults which they say have been committed were laid to 
my charge, though indeed I have felt the trouble of those 
who have suffered so unjustly as if they had been my own. 
But that which grieved me most was to find that in the state- 
ment drawn up by the command of the Father-Provincial, 
^ certain things were asserted which I know to be exceedingly 
false, because I was then on the spot. For the love of our 
Lord, examine strictly, and enquire if any of the sisters gave 
their depositions through fear or passion ; for so long as God 
is not offended all the rest is nothing. But to tell lies to the 
prejudice of our neighbour, this it is which wounds my heart. 
I cannot imagine how people can do such things, since every 
5^ one knows the candour and virtue with which F. Gracian 
^ conversed with us, and the great profit we derived from his 
f instructions, and how much 'he helped us to advance in the 
service of our Lord. This being the truth, it is a great crime 
^0, to publish such accusations, even with regard to matters of 
tri^ little consequence. Charitably remind the sisters of the fault 
L;it' they have committed. May the Most Holy Trinity remain 
](!t^ Tvith you and preserve you ! Amen. 

jto> * All the sisters tenderly commend themselves to you. They 
h-Ope that when the clouds have been scattered, Sister S. Francis 
-will give them an account of everything which: has happened. 
Remember me to good Sister Gabriella, and beg of her to be 
content. She must have felt great pain in beholding Mother 

U 



H- 



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290 Life of 8. Teresa. 

S. Joseph so treated. I pity Sister S. Jerome, if her desires 
are sincere ; if they are not, I shonld have more compassion 
for her than for all the rest. 

* I should have felt much more pleasure in speaking witk 
Seiior Garcia Alvarez than in writing ; but I will not write to 
liim now, because I cannot say what I wish in a letter. 
Remember me to all the sisters, to whom you may shov^ 
this letter. 

' Your unworthy Servant, 

'Teeesa of Jesus.' 

On receiving the command of the Nuncio to submit to the 
authority of the mitigated friars, the leaders of the reform, 
with F. Gracian at their head, adopted the imprudent measure 
of assembling a second Chapter at Almodovar to erect an 
independent Province and elect a Provincial on their own 
authority. The following letter from S. Teresa to F. Gracian 
will show how urgently she endeavoured to dissuade him 
from this step : — 

* To the Rev. Father Jerome Gracian of the Mother of God. 
' Jesus be with your Reverence ! 

* My Father, after the departure of the Prior of Mancera, I 
spoke to Master Daza and Doctor Rueda, concerning your 
intention of maVing a separate Province for our reformed 
Carmelites, because I should not wish your Reverence to do 
anything which people might take hold of, and blame you for. 
Even should the undertaking succeed, this would give me more 
pain than any reverse which might befitU us without our fault. 
They both agreed that the project would be very difficult of 
execution unless your Reverence had a particular commission, 
empowering you to establish the Province. Doctor Rueda, 
especially, urges this point very strongly; and I pay great 
deference to his opinion, because I see that what he recom- 
mends always succeeds : he is a very learned man. He says, 
the election of a Provincial being a matter of jurisdiction, is a 
very difficult pojnt, because the choice belongs either to the 
General or to the Pope. Hence the thing cannot be done, for 
the votes would be null and void. He adds, that the attempt 



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Letter to Father Oracian. 291 

would give an opportunity to the others to apply to the Pope, 
and to proclaim that you were about to withdraw us from our 
obedience, by appointing Superiors when you had not the 
power to do so. He also adds that this undertaking would be 
misinterpreted ; and he is confident that you would have more 
trouble in obtaming the confirmation of a Provincial so 
appointed, than in obtaining the erection of a separate Province 
from the Pope. K the king were to write to his ambassador 
at Rome, the Pope would gladly grant leave, for this could 
easily be done ; particularly if it were represented to his 
Holiness with what severity our fathers of the reform have 
been treated. K anyone would speak to the king on the 
subject, His Majesty, I am sure, would willingly write to his 
ambassador, and this would be of great assistance to the 
reform ; for when the other fathers see that the king interests 
himself in onr behalf, they will have more respect for us, and 
will have less hope to destroy the reform. 

' It would be well, I think, if your Eeverence were to mention 
the matter to Father Chaves (when you give him the letter 
which I sent by the Prior), for he is a very prudent man : and 
if he would only make use of the influence he possesses with 
the king, he would perhaps obtain the favour ; and being by 
this means furnished with the letters from the king, fathers 
deputed by you might hasten to Rome on the subject. And 
even should no such letters be obtained, I should still wish 
them to go by all means; for Doctor Rueda says that the 
right way to manage this business is to apply directly either 
to the Pope or to the General. I am confident that if 
F. Padilla had united with us in representing the matter to 
the king, we should before now have accompHshed our desire. 
Tour Reverence may yet be able to speak to him, or to the 
Archbishop on the subject ; for if the Provincial after he has 
been chosen must be confirmed, and the election and confirma- 
tion be afterwards approved by the king, it would be better to 
eecure hi* approbation before proceeding to the election. If 
we should not succeed we shall at least be spared the aflfront 
which we should sustain by failing to obtain a confirmation 
of the election, which would be a disgrace to us ; and the 
character of your Reverence might suffer if you should attempt 

¥2 



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292 Life of S. Teresa. 

wliat you are not able to do, and thus incur the reproach of 
being wanting in judgment, 

' The Doctor says that if the Visitor of the Dominicans or of 
any other Order were to make this election, there would not 
be so much said about it as if our Priors were to undertake it 
themselves, for, as I have before said, there is the greatest 
delicacy and danger in meddling with matters of jurisdiction, 
and it is of the utmost importance that our Superior be 
appointed by legitimate authority. In fact, I lose all courage 
when I seem to foresee that they will have some cause to 
throw all the fault upon you ; whereas I should not fear did 
they blame you without reason, but, on the contrary, should be 
animated to greater courage thereby. On this account I have 
been anxious to write this letter to you, in order that your 
Reverence may consider well what you are about to do. Do 
you know what J have been thinking ? It is this, that perhaps 
our Father- General will turn against us the letters which I 
have written to him (though there was nothing but good in 
them), and may show them to the Cardinals. These thoughts 
suggested to me the propriety of not writing to him again 
until we have seen the result : it would be also well should an 
opportunity present itself to offer some token of gratitude to 
the Nuncio. I perceived, Father, that when you were at 
Madrid you did a great deal in a day, hence I think that by 
speaking to different persons and interesting the ladies whom 
you know at Court in the matter, and by prevailing on 
F. Antony to induce the Duchess to use her influence, you 
might do a great deal towards obtaining this favour from the 
king, who is very desirous that the reform should be main- 
tained. F. Mariano, who often speaks with the king, might 
give him an account of the present state of things, and beg his 
protection : he could also remind his Majesty how long that 
little Saint, F. John of the Cross, has been detained in prison. 
I know the king listens to everyone, and I cannot imagioe 
why this matter has not been told to his Majesty, #nd why 
F. Mariano, especially, has not entreated him to set this 
father at liberty. But what need have I to say all this to you? 
and what nonsense am I writing to your Reverence, yet you- 
bear with my foolishness ! I assure you I am greatly troubled 



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Sweetness under Mortification. 293 

at not being able to do myself what I advise others to do. 
The king is now going to a great distance : I only wish he 
could do something before his departure. May Qod bring it 
to pass, for He can do it ! ' 

The remonstrances of the Saint were unhappily disregarded, 
as were also those of S. John of the Gross, who, having been 
delivered from his captivity by the miraculous intervention 
of our Blessed Lady, hastened to the Chapter at Almodovar. 
The playftQ sweetness of S. Teresa's reply to the letter in 
which F. Gracian notified his adherence to his own judgment, 
is a model of obedience and humility under a very trying 
mortification. 

* Jesus be with your Paternity ! 

* My Father wnd Superior, as you say, — I cannot help laughing 
whenever I think of your letter, at the serious way in which 
you remind me that I am not to judge my Superior. Oh ! 
my deal* Father, you have little occasion to swear even like a 
Saint, far less like a waggoner, for I am perfectly convinced 
of this. When God gives to anyone such zeal for souls as He 
has given to you, will He deprive him of it with regard to the 
souls of his subjects? I will say no more on the subject 
now ; except to remind you that you have given me permission 
to judge you and to tell you freely what I think. 

'Yesterday, on April 25, just at night-fall, your mother 
arrived, thanks be to Gtod, in perfect health. I have passed 
many happy moments with her. I love her better and better 
every day, and understand more of her goodness and wisdom.' 

Dona Jane Dantisco, the mother of F. Gracian, came to Avila 
to bring her daughter Mary, on her way to enter the noviciate 
at Valladolid. Another sister, Isabella, had been previously 
clothed at Toledo. 

'I am equally delighted,' continues the Saint, *with our 
new religious. I cannot tell you how happy she seems ; one 
would think she had been here aU her life. I hope Qod will 
do great things for her. She has an excellent understanding 
and great quickness.' 



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294 Life of 8. Teresa. 

S. Teresa delighted in the society of young people, whose 
brightness, and innocence were congenial with the freshness 
and simplicity of her own spirit; and she was prepared to 
give to F. Giwjian's young sister a place in her heart beside 
her beloved Teresita, who was now growing in perfection at 
Avila under the care of the religious of S. Joseph. 

In another letter to F. Gracian the Saint speaks of the 
consolation which she hoped hereafter to find in his sister's 
society. * I have been already thinking what a comfort my 
child Mary of S. Joseph (her name in religion) will be to me. 
She writes beautiftdly, has great talent and great cheerftilness, 
which would aid me to carry my burden. God perhaps will 
grant me this consolation after her profession. After all, 
young people do not greatly delight in the company of old 
ones ; and I wonder, my dear Father, that you are not tired 
of me.* 

It is hard to imagine S. Teresa an old woman, such wonderful 
brightness and elasticity appears in every line of her writing ; 
yet she says in another letter: 'I am very old and very 
weary ; ' and the constant anxiety, and strain of continual 
letter writing, during her residence at Toledo, had told upon 
her physical strength, and added to her usual maladies a 
painfdl nervous affection, which produced a constant wearing 
noise in the head, often compelling her to use another hand to 
write for her. 



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295 



CHAPTER XXI. 
1579, 

F. ANTONT OF JBST78 IS CHOSEN PROVINCIAL— INDIGNATION 
OF THE NUNCIO — ^HE IMPEISONS THE LEADERS OF THE RE- 
FORM — MOMENTARY DEPRESSION OF S. TERESA — CONSOLATION 
VOUCHSAFED TO HER BY OUR LORD — HER LETTERS TO F. 
MARIANO AND F. JOHN OF JESUS — IRRESOLUTION OF F. (JRACIAN 
— ITS CAUSE — LETTERS FROM S. TERESA — ^AT THE DESIRE OF 
THE KING THE NUNCIO ASSOCIATES WITH HIMSELF FOUR 
ASSESSORS, BY WHOM THE DISCALCED ARE FREED FROM THE 
AUTHORITY OF THE PROVINCIAL OF THE MITIGATION, AND 
THE IMPRISONED FATHERS AND THE HOLY MOTHER ARE SET 
AT LIBERTY— F. ANGELO DE SALAZAR IS MADE SUPERIOR OF 
THE REFORM — HE APPOINTS F. GRACIAN HIS ASSISTANT AND 
SECRETARY — LETTER OF 8. TERESA — REVELATION MADE TO 
HER AT AVTLA — SHE IS ATTACKED BY PARALYSIS — DEPUTA- 
TION SENT TO ROME TO PROCURE THE ERECTION OF A SEPARATE 
PROVINCE — LETTER TO ANNE OF JESUS. 

The Fathers assembled at Almodovar elected as their Pro- 
vincial F. Antony of Jesus, and then, with singular incon- 
sistency, sent a deputation to the Nuncio to explain the reason 
of their conduct, and to ask him to confirm the election. As 
might have been expected, he considered the whole proceeding 
as an infringement of his authority, annulled the acts of the 
Chapter, and inflicted the severest penalties upon its principal 
members. On the Vigil of All Saints he excommunicated 
the Fathers Oratian, Antony of Jesus, and Mariano, and im- 
prisoned them in three separate convents in Madrid. S. Teresa 
was directed to make that of Toledo her place of imprison- 
ment. 

The news of the disastrous Chapter of Almodovar crushed 
for a moment the firm spirit of S. Teresa. Her faithftil com- 



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296 Life of S. Tereaa. 

panion, Anne of S. Bartholomew, relates that for a whole day 
she ate nothing. S. Ignatius Loyola, when meditatmg on 
what circnmstance would give him the greatest pain, de- 
clared that he would be reconciled to the destruction of his 
Order by a quarter of an hour's recollection. Perhaps he had 
not taken into account the additional anguish of seeing it 
perish by the imprudence of its own children. Be this as it 
may, the brightness of Teresa's spirit was overcast for a whole 
day. When her loving daughter came at last to beg her to 
eat, she came down to the refectory at her desire and sat 
down to table. Then, as Mother Anne relates, she saw our 
Lord tenderly approach His sorrowing servant, and taJdng 
bread in His hands. He said to her, ' Eat, my child, for I see 
that thou hast suffered much ; be of good courage, for so it 
must be.' The cloud instantly passed away ; and from that 
moment Teresa was, as usual, the life and light and strength 
of all around her. 

She writes to F. John of Jesus and to F. Mariano of a 
gracious revelation made to her at this time as to the issue of 
the struggle. 

• To F. Mariano. 

* May the grace of the Holy Spirit be with your soul ! 

' Your letter, my dear F. Mariano, has given me great pain 
by informing me of the proceedings of the Nuncio, of the 
arrival of F. John of Jesus very sorrowful at Madrid, and of 
the sadness of you all at my imprisonment. God be for ever 
praised ! as such is His holy will. And now that I see the 
world and hell rise up against my children, I have such, an 
assurance that our Lord and my holy Father S. Joseph, will 
undertake our cause, that from this very day, my deao-est 
Father, you may account yourself not the vanquished but the 
victor. Lucifer desires nothing better than to see this little 
flock of our Lady dispersed and destroyed, but it shall not be 
as he thinks ; on the contrary, my dear son, those who now 
persecute us will declare themselves in our favour. Therefore 
let your tears be changed into joy. As for me, what wrings 
my heart in these events is that my sons have to suffer ; that 
they are living in dispersion and under persecution because of 



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Letter to F. Mariano. 297 

a smfal womaa like myself. This it is which makes me sigh 
and weep. As to the rest, I believe victory to be certain, 
inasmuch as our cause is the cause of God. Be pleased to 
tell F. John of Jesus to return to Valladolid to the house of 
Dofia Mary de Mendoza, and not to leave it till he hears from 
me. For you, Reverend Father, take this letter from me to 
the king without a moment's loss of time. Make known to 
him the state of our affairs, of which I also inform him in my 
letter, and you will see how he will take things to heart for 
the glory of Grod. Behave with great humihty to the king, 
and do not show a shadow of resentment against those who 
have done so much to deserve it. It befits us to show great 
patience in all things. I say this that you may be on your 
guard ; in this way things will be smoothed. As to the 
letter to the Nuncio, give the king time to reply before you 
deliver it, and you will see, my dear Father, what will take 
place. Be fiill of confidence, and do not give way to the 
weakness of saying, we carmot endure this cmy longer : for we 
cam do all things m Jesvs Christ. Be frill then of faith, for it 
is £aith which enables us to do great works for God. I say 
this that henceforth we may learn to hope in Him. Go to the 
Princess of Pastrana for me, and tell her that I have punctually 
accomplished what she asked of me. Tell her not to be 
troubled at my imprisonment, for I deserve something much 
worse ; and that we shall soon meet again. I leave all other 
matters till I see you. My companion begs you to tell B. 
John to paint for her the S. Joseph which he promised her. 
Let him do it, for I should like to see the world fall of devo- 
tion towards my Father S. Joseph. My health of body is 
very good just now ; not so my spiritual health, because in- 
stead of penance, there has been nothing but indulgence. I 
grieve to be in this state. Pray to God for me. Father, and 
ask him to make me good. May that Divine Master be 
blessed in all things, and for all things, and may He give you 
His grace and His Spirit ! 

'Teresa of Jesus.' 

The letter to F. John of Jesus, written on the same day, 
reveals the ground of the Saint's extraordinary confidence as 
to the happy issue of the present trial. 



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298 Life of 8. Teresa: 

' Jesus, Mary, and Joseph be in the sonl of my Father John 
of Jesus ! 

' I received your Reverence's letter in this prison, where I 
am now filled with the greatest delight, because I endure all 
my troubles for my God and for my Order. That which grieves 
me, my Father, is the affliction your Reverence feels ; this \t 
is that troubles me. Do not, however, my son, be troubled, 
nor anyone else, since I "may say, like another Paul, though 
not his equal in sanctity, that prisons, labours, persecutions, 
torments, ignominies, and insults for my Saviour and for my 
Order are to me delights and favours. 

* I never knew myself to be more free from troubles than I 
am now. It belongs to Gt>d to help the afflicted and imprisoned 
with his ferVour and assistance. I give my Gbd a thousand 
thanks, and it is fitting that we should all thank Him for the 
favour He has done me by this imprisonment. My son and 
Father, can there be a greater deHght or sweetness than in 
sufPering for our good Grod ? When were the Saints at the 
height of their joy, but when they were suffering for their Grod 
and Saviour ? This is the most secure and certain path that 
leads to Qt>d, since the cross should be our joy and delight. 
Let us then, my Father, seek the cross ; let us desire the cross ; 
let us embrace afflictions ; and whenever we shall have none, 
woe to the Carmelite Order, woe to us. You tell me in your 
letter how the Nuncio has given orders, that no more con- 
vents of our Order should be founded, and that those already 
erected must be suppressed by desire of the Father-General. 
You also mention that the Nuncio is exceedingly angry with 
me, and considers me a troublesome woman and of a roving 
disposition ; that the world is against me and my sons, who 
hide themselves in the rocks of the mountains, and the most 
retired places, in order not to be found and taken. This is 
what I lament — ^what I feel — ^what grieves me — ^that, for such 
a sinner and wicked nun as I am, my sons should endure so 
many persecutions and afflictions, and should be abandoned 
by all men, but not by Gt)d. For of this I am certain He will 
not forsake us, nor abandon those who love Him so tenderly. 

*But in order that you^ my son, and the rest of your 
brothers may rejoice,! will tell you something very consoling \ 



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IrresoluHon of F. Gradan. 299 

but this must be in confidence between myself, your Reverence, 
and F. Mariano, for I should be grieved if others knew it. 
You must know then, my Father, how a certain nun of this 
house, being in prayer on the Vigil of the Feast of my Father 
S. Joseph, he appeared to her in company with the Blessed 
Virgin and her Son ; and she noticed how they stood asking 
for the reformation (of the Order) ; and our Lord told her 
that many, both in hell and on earth, rejoiced greatly to see, 
as they supposed, the Order dissolved, but that, when the 
Nuncio commanded its dissolution, Grod confirmed it. He 
told her to have recourse to the king, who in everything 
would be to her and her sons as a father. Our Lady and 
S. Joseph said the same, and several other things not fit to be 
mentioned in a letter. She was also told that within twenty 
days I should be delivered from prison, Grod so willing. Let 
us then all rejoice, for from this day forward the reform will 
continue to advance more and more. 

' What your Reverence should do is to continue in the house 
of Dofia Mary de Mendoza till you hear again from me. 
F. Mariano must go and present this letter to the king and 
another to the Duchess of Pastrana. I hope your Reverence 
will not leave the house lest you should be apprehended, for 
we shall soon see ourselves at liberty. I am well and strong, 
thank Gbd ! My companion is indisposed. Recominend us 
to God, and say a Mass of thanksgiving in honour of my 
Father S. Joseph. Do not write to me till I tell you. May 
Grod make you a holy and perfect religious ! 

' Teresa of Jesus.' 

S: Teresa's letter to the king has been uiihappily lost. It 
did not produce any immediate effect, for PhiHp had been 
much annoyed at the want of promptness and decision shown 
by F. Ghracian at the first arrival of the new Nuncio. The 
Archbishop had reproached him at having no more courage 
than a fly. This irresolution, however, probably proceeded 
not frowi want of courage, a defect which is hardly conceivable 
in one so deeply venerated by S. Teresa. It seems to have 
arisen from exceeding delicacy of conscience, joined to that 
morbid sensitiveness which often accompanies high genius. 



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300 Life of S. Teresa. 

Jerome Gh*acian was a man of genius, no less tlian of sanctiiy ; 
this W9»s the secret of the fascination by which he swayed the 
minds of men ; this it was which kept him lonely in the midst 
of them, longing for sympathy, and yet shrinking from the 
approach of imcongenial spirits. This also it was which led 
him to seek refdge in the prompt decision of harder and coarser 
minds, from the responsibility of reconciling difficulties which 
were visible only to his keener perception ; and thus (as in 
the case of the Chapter at Almodovar) to terminate a long 
period of irresolution by some act of fatal rashness. 

From the time of the death of Hormaneto he seems to have 
been haunted by a doubt of the vaUdity of his commission ; 
and the excommunication pronounced against him by Sega 
weighed most painfully upon his mind. S. Teresa often scolds 
him for his excessive depression and scrupulosity. * I had a 
great mind, my dear Father, to write a long reply to your 
melancholy and desponding letter, but all these letters which 
I enclose have left me no time to write any more, and I am 
glad of it, for my head is nearly worn out already. As to the 
first point, my dear Paul is very simple to indulge in so many 
scruples. Be pleased to tell him so. To you, my dear Father, 
I have nothing to say. All theologians declare that your 
conscience may be in perfect security until the brief has been 
notified to you: they add that it would be perfect folly to 
place yourself now in the hands of the Nuncio. . . . For 
piiy's sake, do not thus forecast the future. Q-od will turn 
everything to good. Keep yourself in concealment as much 
as you can : this is my one subject of anxiety. If, with so 
many to care for you, you give way to this despondency, what 
would have become of you if you had had to go through what 
has befallen F. John of the Cross.' 

Again she writes : ' May the Holy Spirit be with you, my 
Bicverend Father, and bring you off victorious from this con- 
flict! In our days there are few against whom our Lord 
permits the world and the devil to wage such ftirious warfare. 
May his name be blessed, who has been pleased that you 
should merit so much, and in so many ways at once ! Not- 
withstanding the sensibility of nature, reason, I assure you, 
shows us very plainly how much cause we have to rejoice. I 



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AppoiTvtment of four Assessors. 301 

am at peace now that I know you are convinced that you are 
not touched by the excommunication. For my part, I never 
thought for a single moment that you were.' 

Again, during his visitation: 'Your conscience, my dear 
Father, is not one fitted to arrange matters on which there 
are contrary opinions. You torment yourself when there is 
no reason for it, as you have been doing now. Leave people 
to settle their own debates. You have quite enough to do in 
running so many risks, without tormenting yourself with 
scruples. I assure you that my greatest trouble, in the 
midst of all this disturbance, is the fear that you may not be 
relieved from the office of Visitor. But if it shall please our 
Divine Master still to lay it upon you, He will take care of 
you as He has hitherto done. . . . 

* I envy the souls whom you are leading forward in the path 
of perfection, while I, to my sorrow, do nothing but eat and 
sleep, and talk about our dear brothers, the mitigated Cannes, 
who are continually giving me occasion for it. . . . AUow me 
to say, Reverend Father, that I do not see the benefit of your 
thus going from village to village. You are surrounded by 
so many dangers, that I think you are over bold thus to go 
from one place to another, while there are souls to be saved 
everywhere. ' 

The excessive severity of the Nuncio at last roused Philip 
tb so royal a remonstrance that Sega thought it prudent to 
propose to share his responsibility with four assessors appointed 
by the king. Of these two were Dominicans, one of them 
being Peter Hernandez, then Provincial of the Dominican 
Order in Castile, formerly Apostolic Visitor of the Cannes in 
that Province, who had ever shown himself a true and devoted 
friend of the reform. * Since the appointment,* writes 
S. Teresa, 'of those two yenerable and beloved Dominican 
Fathers as Assessors to the Nuncio, I have not had the smallest 
anxiety about our affairs. I know them well, and am assured 
that four such Assessors as have been named will regulate 
everything for the honour and glory of Grod, which is our 
only desire.' 

The authority and judgment of his four colleagues at last 
dispelled the prejudices of the Nuncio, who, being a good and 



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302 Life of 8. Teresa. 

upright man, was grieved at bis past injustice, and took 
measures at once to remedy tlie evil whicli it had occasioned. 
His first act was to withdraw the discalced fathers from the 
jurisdiction of the Provincials of the mitigation, and to place 
them under a prelate of their own, entitled the Vicar-GfeneraJ 
of the discalced. F. Angelo de Salazar, so long Provincial of 
Castne, and now Prior of the Carmes at Yalladolid, was 
appointed to this office on April 1, 1679. The first use whicli 
the new Vicar-General made of his authority was to leave the 
holy Mother at foil liberty to go whithersoever she would. 
In concert with the king, he instituted an immediate enquiry 
into the accusations brought against F. Gracian and the 
Carmehtes at Seville, by which their innocence was trium- 
phantly established. Mother Mary of S. Joseph, afber an 
ineffectual opposition on her own part, was once more placed 
at the head of the convent. Father Angelo de Salazar soon 
afterwards took F. Gracian for his companion and secretary, 
and intrusted the government of the reform entirely to him. 
S. Teresa writes thus to F. Gh*acian on April 16, from Avila. 
* May the Holy Ghost repay you for the consolation which 
your letter has given me by the hopes which it holds out that 
I shall see you soon ! For the love of our Lord, so arrange 
your work and your journey that you may be able to come to 
me. For if it is hard to be deprived of happiness which we 
have left off hoping for, it is harder still to be deprived of that 
which we had looked to enjoy. I beheve that our Divine 
Master's glory will be promoted by our meeting. In the joy 
which this hope has shed over my soul, I have accepted with 
resignation the choice of our new Superior. God grant that 
he may not enjoy his authority long; not that I mean, in 
any way, that I wish him to be deprived of it by death. After 
all, he is by far the most prudent among the mitigated Carmes. 
He will be fall of consideration for us, and with his discretion 
will frlly understand what ought to be the end of his mission. 
In some respects this nomination is far less favourable to the 
other fathers than to us. If we were perfect, we ought to 
desire nothing better than the present Nuncio, who has given 
us so many occasions of merit.' S. Teresa's first use of her 
liberty was to go with her companion, the Venerable Anne of 



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Revelation ccmcernmg the Order. 303 

S. Bartlioloinew, to her beloved home of S. Joseph's at Avila, 
that monastery being nearest to Madrid, and therefore most 
convenient for her residence during the important affairs now 
under negociation. It was at this time that she received the 
revelation which she has thus solemnly recorded. 

' Being at S. Joseph's in Avila on the Vigil of Pentecost, in 
the hermitage of Nazareth, considering a great favour our Lord 
had bestowed on me on that day about twenty years before, a 
strong impulse and fervour of spirit, seized me and threw me 
into a rapture. In this state I heard from our Lord what I 
will now relate. He bade me tell the discalced fsithers from 
Him that they should endeavour to observe four things, which, 
while they observed, this Order would go on increasing, but, if 
they failed to do so, they would then know that they had 
fallen away from the perfection of their primitive rule. The 
first was : That the 8v/perioT8 should all he wndted. The 
second : That though it might he necessary to have mam/ corwents, 
yet in each there should he hut f&w friars. The third : That 
they should corwerse hut little with seculars, a/nd that Utile only 
for the good of their souls ; and the fourth : That they should 
teach more hy works tham, hy words. This was in the year 1579, 
and for greater confirmation of the truth I hereby affix my 
name — ' Teeesa of Jesus.' 

S. Teresa was occupied by the command of her Superior for 
some months of the year 1579 in visiting the convents of 
YaUadoHd, Salamanca, and Malagon. In the latter place she 
was attacked by paralysis and confined for two months in her 
bed, her sufferings being alleviated by the tender affection of 
her children and by witnessing their religious perfection. 

Meanwhile the Nuncio and his four assistants had come to 
the conclusion that the measure most expedient for the welfare 
of the reform would be its permanent establishment as an 
independent Province under a Provincial of its own. The 
king's approbation having been obtained, the next step was to 
send deputies to Eome to lay the measure before the Holy 
Father. Father John of Jesus de Boca and Father Diego of 
the Holy Trinity were appointed to this mission. For fear of 
being intercepted by the adverse party, the two deputies were 



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304 Life of 8. Teresa. 

to travel in secular dresses, and aocordinglj Father Jolin of 
Jesns appeared at Malagon, to ask S. Teresa's parting blessing, 
in the array of a gallant cavalier. The expenses of this jonr- 
ney were defrayed by the liberal contributions of various 
houses of the reform ; and S. Teresa thus writes to Mother 
Anne of Jesus, the Prioress of Yeas, to thank her for the 
noble generosity which she had shown on this occasion, and 
for the support which she had been to her through all the 
past trial. This is one of the few letters which remain to m 
addressed by the Saint to the daughter who is said most nearly 
to have resembled her. 

* Jesus. 

* May the Holy Spirit be ever in your soul ! 

* My dearest Daughter — My Daughter and my Crown, — ^I 
cannot sufficiently thank Gk)d for the ^Ebvour whichHe has shown 
us in calling you to our Order ; for, as when He brought out 
the Children of Israel from the captivity of Egypt, He caused 
a pillar to go before them to guide and enlighten them during 
the night, and to shelter them fr^m the heat during the day, 
so has it pleased Him to show forth the might of TTis^ arm 
with Tegard to our Order ; and He has made you, my dear 
daughter, to be this pillar to guide, to enlighten, and to defend 
us. Nothing could have been more wisely conceived or more 
happily executed than all that you have done for our religious, 
who are now setting off for Eome. It is plain that Grod is in 
your soul from the grace and the greatness of all that you do. 
May the Lord, to Whose glory alone you look, reward you and 
bring our affairs to a happy conclusion ! ' It is remarkable 
that the severest reproof which is to be found in any of S. 
Teresa's letters is addressed to this same religious. Great 
must have been her confidence in the perfection of one wrhom 
she could venture thus fearlessly to praise, and unsparingly to 
blame. But she was addressing Anne of Jesus, to whose sanc- 
tity S. John of the Cross bore witness, saying, that lie felt 
when in her company as if in the presence of a Seraph ; so 
great were also her natural gifbs that it used to be said of her 
that she was fit to govern a kingdom. 



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305 



CHAPTER- XXn. 

1680. 

FOXnn)ATION OP yiLLAinrByA--^ATHSRINB OP CAEDONA — SAINT 

iebesa's asm is bboxjen a ssconq xdcs — SHE BEiumrs 

TO TOLEDO. 

"When S. Teresa was at Toledo, at the beginning of the trou- 
bles affecting the reform, an application had been made to 
her for the foundation of a convent at ViUanueva. But the 
poverfy of the place and the heat of the persecution obliged 
the Saint to delay granting the request, which came from four 
sisters of noble birth, who had been attracted to ViUanueva by 
the fame of the sanctity of the celebrated penitent, Catherine 
of Cardona. ISTot having health to emulate her austerities, 
they associated with themselves five other pious maidens, four 
of whom were also sisters, thus forming a community of Ter- 
tiaries who wore the scapular of our Lady of Mount Carmel, 
and awaited in humility, patience, and poverty, the day when 
they should be admitted to the ftill privileges of the Order. 

* When I was at Toledo, in 1576,* says S. Teresa, ' a priest 
came to me, bringing letters from the municipahty of ViUa- 
nueva de la Xara, desiring me to receive into our Order a com- 
munity of nine persons, who for some years had Hved together 
near l^e hermitage of the glorious S. Anne ; and that with 
such recoUection and sanctity as to induce the people of the 
place to endeavour to ftirther their desires of becoming reli- 
gious. The parish priest of VUlanu^eva also wrote to me on 
their behalf: his name was Augustin de Ervias ; a very pious 
imd learned man. It appeared to me impossible to admit 
them, for various reasons. First, because having been so long 
accustomed to their own way of living, it would be very difficult 



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306 Life of S. Teresa. 

to them to accommodate themselves to ours ; secondl j, because 
they had hardly any means of snpport, and the town, having 
little more than a thousand inhabitants, would be able to afford 
Httle assistance in the way of alms ; and, although the muni- 
cipality offered to support them, they could not (it seemed to 
me) promise anything lasting; thirdly, they had no house; 
fourthly, Villanueva is at some considerable distance from, our 
other monasteries. Again, though I was told they were very 
excellent persons, yet, as I had not seen them, I could not 
judge if they possessed the qualities requisite in our convent, 
and so I determined to revise the foundation altogether. But 
before I gave my answer, I wished to speak with my confessor, 
Doctor Velasquez, Canon and Professor of Theology in Toledo, 
a very learned and virtuous man, who is now Bishop of Osma. 
When he had read the letters, and understood the matter, he 
told me not to give a decided refusal, but to return a courteous 
answer ; because, as Gt>d had united so many hearts together 
in the same design. He perhaps willed to be served thereby. 
So I gave such an answer as neither absolutely accepted nor 
positively rejected the proposal.' 

In the year 1579, F. Antony of Jesus retired from the 
troubles of the time to the monastery of our Lady of Succour; 
which is about three leagues from the town of Yillanue va, 
whither he went occasionally to preach, and there becoming 
acquainted with these holy women, he took their wishes very 
much to heart, and wrote to urge S. Teresa to admit them 
into the Order. 

The monastery of our Lady of Succour had been founded 
on the site of a grotto, long inhabited by the Blessed Catherine 
of Cardona, who, at eight years old, had devoted herself to a 
life of austere penance, to dehver the soul of her father from 
the sufferings of Purgatory, and afterwards left the court of 
Philip II. to live the life of a hermit in this cavern, where she 
practised austerities equal in severity to those of the fathers 
of the desert, and died there in the odour of sanctity in the 
habit of Mount Carmel. 

Finding that his letters had not succeeded in convincing 
S. Teresa of the practicabiHty of the work which he wished 
her to undertake, F. Antony, in company with the Prior of our 



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Fears to accept the Foundation. 307 

Lady of Snccour, went to Malagon to try the effect of a per- 
sonal interview. 

' The Father Prior,' says the Saint, * came to speak to me 
on the matter, giving me an acconnt of what conld be done 
for the honse ; and telling me that, when it was founded, Dr. 
Ervias would, with the permission of the Holy See, give 300 
ducats as an endowment from a benefice which he held. This 
offer made me uncertain what to do, for though it could not 
be depended on tiU the foundation should be made, it would 
have been sufficient, together with what Httle they already 
possessed ; however, I gave the Father Prior many reasons 
why it was not wise to admit them, and in my judgment they 
were good reasons. I also begged that he and F. Antony 
would consider the matter well, and so I left it to their con- 
science, thinking I had already said enough to put a stop to 
the undertaking. After he departed, I considered how bent 
he was on the plan, and that he might perhaps persuade our 
present Superior (F. Angelo de Salazar) to admit them. I 
therefore wrote to F. Angelo immediately, desiring him not to 
^rant the license, and giving him my reasons for the request. 
He answered that he would not think of doing so without my 
ipprobation. 

* About six weeks (or perhaps a little more) had passed away, 
ind I began to consider the matter as quite at an end, when 
;here came a messenger with letters from the municipaHty of 
T^illanueva, promising to provide for the support of the con- 
rent. Dr. Ervias also engaged to perform what he had pro- 
nised. I received letters also from the Prior and F. Antony 
pressing me to admit the foundation ; but I was afraid to do 
JO, lest some difficulty might arise in attempting to blend 
iliese people with our own rehgious, and likewise because I 
a^w no certainty of their support, for there was no security 
liat the assistance offered by the town would be continued. 
Lll this caused me to fall into great perplexity. Afterwards I 
iscoTered it was from the devil ; because, although our Lord 
.as Tisually given me courage, I was then so great a coward 
hat I seemed to have no confidence at all in Him. But the 
.rayers of these holy souls at length prevailed. 

* One day after Communion, when I was recommending 

x2 



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308 Life of 8. Teresa. 

the matter to God, being disposed to retom a favourable 
answer by the fear lest I might put an obstacle to the progress 
of some souls towards perfection ; and all my desire being to 
find out some means whereby onr Lord may be more perfectly 
praised and served, His Majesty gave me a sharp reproof, 
saying : " With what treasures have all the houses been founded 
which have been hitherto begun ? Do not hesitate to make 
this foundation, for it will greatly advance My glory and the 
good of soxds.*' How powerful are the words of God ; for the 
understanding not only apprehends them, but is thereby en- 
lightened to know the truth, and the will is disposed to desire 
to execute them ; and so it happened to me, for I was not only 
delighted to found the monastery, but it seemed to me that I 
had done wrong in waiting, and in being so wedded to human 
reason, as I have seen how fjEu:' what His Majesty has done for 
this holy Order exceeds our reason. Having resolved then to 
admit this foundation, it appeared necessary for me to go with 
the nuns who were to remain in the house, for many reasons 
which presented themselves to me, although I was greatly 
opposed to the journey, having arrived very unwell at Malagon, 
and being so still. But knowing now that God would thereby 
be served, I wrote to my Superior to command me to do what he 
thought most perfect. He sent me the license for the foundation, 
commanding me to go, and to take with me such nuns as I 
thought most suitable for the work. This made me very soli- 
citous to choose such as could live with those who were already 
there. Having recommended the matter earnestly to our 
Lord, I took two from the monastery of S. Joseph's in Toledo, 
of whom one was to be the Prioress, and two from Malagon, 
one of whom was to be Sub- Prioress. The choice of these 
sisters having been fervently recommended to God, proved by 
His blessing of great service to His Divine Msyesty. His 
special aid was needed in this foundation, which was neces- 
sarily attended with greater difficulties than those begun by 
our own sisters alone. 

* F. Antony of Jesus and the Prior came for us, being sent 
by the people of Villanueva, and we left Malagon on the 
Saturday before Quinquagesima Sunday, being February 13, 
1580. God was pleased to give us such fine weather, and to 



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Monastery of our Lady of Succour. 309 

give me such good health, that it seemed as if I had never 
been ill. I wondered greatly at this, and considered how 
important it is not to be deterred by weak health or other 
obstacles when opportunities of serving God present them- 
selves, since He is able to turn our weakness into strength, 
and our sickness into health ; and, when He does it not, it is 
because He sees. that suffering is better for us; for why are 
life and health given us, save to lose them in the service of so 
great a King and Lord; and with our eyes fixed on His 
honour and glory to forget ourselves ? Believe me, sisters, 
you will never go wrong by following this road. I confess to 
you that my wickedness and weakness have often made me 
doubt and fear ; but I remember not, ever since our Lord 
gave me the habit of a discalced Carmelite, nor for some years 
before, that I have ever followed any other rule of conduct. 
By His mercy alone He has given me grace to overcome these 
temptations, and to devote myself without flinching to what- 
ever I considered was most to His honour, however difficult 
it might be. I clearly perceive my cooperation was worth 
very little ; but God desires no more than su:ch a single reso- * 
lution on our part to do the thing Himself for us. 
* May He be ever blessed aiid praised ! Amen.' 
On her way to Villanueva S. Teresa visited the sanctuary 
of our Lady of Succour, where she was fovoured by a vision of 
the B. Catherine of Cardona. 

' We had to pass by the monastery of our Lady of Succour, 
mentioned before, which is nine miles from Villanueva ; and 
there we had to stay and give notice that we were come, for 
so we had agreed to do, and it was fit that I should in all 
things obey those fathers with whom we travelled. The house 
stands in the midst of a delightful solitude, and, when we were 
near to it, the religious came forth to receive their Prior with 
great solemnity ; and the sight of them as they came forth 
bare-footed, with their poor cloaks of coarse cloth, excited 
great devotion in us all. I was greatly moved, for I seemed to 
be living in the blessed times of our primitive fathers. They 
seemed at that time to be so many white odoriferous flowers, 
and such I believe they are before God, for He is truly served 
by them. They entered the church, singing the Te Bevm with 



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310 Life of 8. Tei^esa. 

voices whose weakness showed their mortification. The pas- 
sage to the chnrch is nndergroilnd, as if through a gi^otto, 
representing that of our Father EHas. As I entered it, I 
experienced such great interior joy, as would have repaid me 
for a much longer journey, though I grieved much for the 
death of the Blessed Catherine of Cardona, by whose means 
God had founded this house, because I had not deserved to see 
her, though I so greatly desired it. 

' One day, after I had communicated in that holy church, a 
rapture came upon me which took away my senses. In it this 
holy woman was represented to me (by an intellectual vision) 
as a glorified body. Some angels were with her, and she told 
me " not to grow weary, but to endeavour to go on with thope 
foundations." 

* We arrived at VillanuevaoAthe first Sunday in Lent, being 
the Vigil of S. Peter's Chair and the Feast of S. Barbatus, in 
the year 1580. On the same day the Blessed Sacrament was 
placed at High Mass in the church of the glorious S. Anne. 
The whole of the town council came forth to receive us, with 
Dr. Ervias and some others. We alighted at the parish church, 
which was at a considerable distance Jfrom S. Anne's. 

* The joy of the people was so great, that it gave me exceed- 
ing consolation to behold with what pleasure they received the 
Order of the Blessed Virgin our Lady. We heard the bells 
ring at a great distance ; and as soon as we entered the chnrch 
the Te D&vmi was intoned, the Canons taking one verse and the 
choir another. The Most Blessed Sacrament was placed on 
one car, and our Lady's image on another, with crosses and 
standards, and thus the procession went forward with great 
solemnity : we walked in the middle, in our veils and white 
cloaks, next to the Most Blessed Sacrament ; next came onr 
discalced fathers in great numbers &om the monastery ; then 
the Franciscan fathers (for they had a monastery in the town), 
and with them a Dominican friar ; and, though he was alone, 
I was much pleased to see that habit there. 

* As the distance was very great, several altars were erected 
on the way, at which the procession stopped, singing hymns 
in honour of our Lady of Mount Carmel. The sight of all 
these people thus vieing with each other in praising our Lord, 



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Poverty and Patience. 311 

borne in tritmipli before them, and the hononr which for His 
sake was paid to seven poor little Carmelite nuns, filled ns with 
the tenderest feelings of devotion. But at the same time I 
thought as I walked along, to my great confusion, that had 
they treated me according to my deserts, they would all have 
turned against me. 

' I have thus given you, sisters, a long account of the honour 
here shown to the habit of our Lady, that you may praise our 
Lord, and beseech Him that He may turn this foundation to His 
honour. 

' I am, however, more delighted when in founding monasteries 
I Suffer many persecutions and troubles, and these I more joy- 
ftiHy recount to you. True it is that those sisters wto lived there 
before we came had endured a great deal for about six years 
after they entered the house of the glorious S. Anne, besides 
their poverty and the trouble they endured in procuring means 
of subsistence, for they never Kked to ask alms, lest the people 
might think they came there to be supported by them. I will 
not speak of their severe penances, their long fasts, their scanty 
meals, their poor beds, and the smallness of their house, which 
was most inconvenient, considering how strict was their enclo- 
sure. But their greatest affliction (as they told me) was their 
ardent desire to receive our holy habit ; and this desire 
tormented them day and night exceedingly, because they 
thought it would never be fiilfilled ; and thus all their prayers 
and tears were offered to Grod for this intention ; and, when any 
new difficulty arose in the way, they were extremely afflicted, 
and increased their penances. Out of their earnings, and by 
stinting themselves in food, they paid the messengers who were 
sent to me ; thus proving to those who were in any way able to 
relieve them, that they could maintain themselves in their 
poverty. I was convinced, after I had spoken to them and 
observed their sanctity, that their prayers and tears had been 
instrumental in gaining admittance into the Order ; and I 
esteemed such souls a greater gain to us than if they had 
brought us great revenues ; and I feel assured that this house 
will advance greatly in perfection. When we arrived, they 
were all standing at the door, each wearing the same dress 
in which she entered the housie, for they never wished to 



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312 Life of S. Teresa. 

a^Btiine any religious habit till they cjould receive oars. 
Though what they wore was very modest, its poverty and their 
extremely pale and ascetic looks showed how severe had been 
the mortification of their life. They received ns with maxLj 
tears of great joy, which were proved to be sincere by the love 
with which they served onr Lady, their great virtue, humility^ 
and obedience to the Prioress, and to all who came to found 
the monastery ; they could not do enough to please us. All 
their fear was lest we should be driven away by the sight of 
their poverty and small inconvenient house. No one of them 
ever commanded the rest, but each one did what she could, 
with all humility and love. The two eldest naanaged all 
necessary business; the others never spoke with anyone. 
They slept but little, being obliged to work for their food, and 
in order to make time for prayer, in which they spent many 
hours, and on festivals the whole day. They were directed 
by the works of F. Louis of Granada and F. Peter of Alcan- 
tara. They spent much of their time in reciting the Divine 
Office as well as they could (only one knew how to read 
well), and their Breviaries were not uniform, some of them 
being old Boman office books given them by priests who no 
longer used them ; and as they could not read well, they spent 
many hours over it, and no doubt made many mistakes ; but 
God accepted their good intentions, and they said the Office in 
a place where they could not be heard by the people outside. 
When F. Antony of Jesus became acquainted with them, he 
told them to say only the Office of our Lady. 

' They had an oven, where they baked their bread ; and 
everything was done with as much order in the house as if 
they had had a Superioress. All this made me praise our 
Lord the more; and the more I conversed with them, the 
more pleased I was that I had come. I would not have 
neglected to console these sisters, for any trials which it might 
have brought upon me. My companions, who were to remain 
with them, told me that at first they felt some reluctance to 
do so ; but when they discovered their virtues, it was their 
greatest joy to live with them, for they loved them exceedingly. 
How great is the power of holiness and vii^nie ! It is true 
that those who came thither, whatever difficulties and labours 



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H&r Ami broken a second Time. 313 

they might have to endure, would have borne them all patiently 
by our Lord's assistance, because they desired to suffer in His 
service ; and that sister who finds not in herself this desire, 
let her not esteem herself a true discalced Carmelite, since 
our desires should not be for ease and rest, but for suffering, 
that BO we may in some measure imitate our true Spouse. 
May His Majesty be pleased to give us grace to do so ! Amen.' 

During her stay at Villanueva, an accident befell the holy 
Mother, by which the arm, fiom the fracture of which she 
had already suffered so much, was broken a second time. 
This accident was followed by a very dangerous abscess, inso- 
much 'that, as Anne of S. Bartholomew informs us, her life was 
despaired of. It pleased Grod, however, to deliver her from 
this peril by the breaking of the abscess. 

After remaining a month at Villanueva, S. Teresa began 
her journey to Toledo, but, before she left them, she called her 
daughters together, and said to them : *• My children, be of 
good courage, for you will have great need of it on account of 
the destitution and poverty in which I leave you, which moves 
me to great sorrow and compassion. On the other hand, great 
is my consolation and my confidence in the promise of our 
Lord, who has pledged His word that those who perfectly 
observe their obligations shall be provided, by His mercy, 
with all things needftQ for them, and in His name I promise 
it to you. But if you have not courage to remain here, tell 
me so plainly, and I will take you with me.' There was but 
one reply from those facithftd hearts, that they were ready to 
persevere unto death, not there only, but amongst the Moors, 
should it be her pleasure to leave them there. 



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314 Life of S. Teresa. 



CHAPTER XXni. 
1680, 1581. 

SEVERE ILLNESS OF THE SAINT— DEATH OP HEB BROTHER 
LAURENCE — LETTEE8 TO HER NEPHEW AND TO MOTHER MAJtT 
OF S. JOSEPH ON THE SUBJECT — FOUNDATION OP PALENCIA — 
FEARS OP S. TERESA REUOYED BY A WORD PROM OUR I^RB — 
HAPPY CONCLUSION OP THE FOUNDATION. 

S. Teresa left Villanueva on March 20, and arrived at Toledo 
about Palm Sunday. On the Thursday in Holy Week she 
was attacked by paralysis, and by such acute pain in tHe heart, 
accompanied with fever, that in her letters to F. Gracian and 
the Prioress of Seville, she says that she thought she was 
about to die. Before she had ftdly recovered, she received a 
command from the Vicar-General to go to Valladolid to meet 
the Bishop of Palencia, who was desirous to establish a convent 
in that city, to which he had been recently translated from 
Avila. The holy Mother left Toledo afber the Feast of Corpns 
Christi, and arrived at Segovia before June 26. On that day, 
while she was at work, with the other reHgious at recreation, 
her beloved brother, Laurence of Cepeda, who died almost 
suddenly on that day, appeared to her. The Saint changed 
countenance for a moment, and then, without uttering a ^word, 
put down her work and hastened to the choir, followed by the 
nuns, to commend the departed spirit to our Lord. She had 
no sooner knelt before the Blessed Sacrament than our Lord 
vouchsafed to assure her that her brother had been a very 
short time in Purgatory, and was now enjoying the eternal 
bliss of Heaven. The religious had observed her sudden 
change of countenance, and besought their mother to 
make known its cause, when she related to them the vision 
which she had seen. 



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Letter to her Nephew. 315 

Laurence of Gepeda, since his return from America, had 
been living in devout retirement, on an estate called Sema, 
which he had purchased in the neighbourhood of Avila. The 
following letters to his second son, then in America, and to 
the Prioress of Seville, of which house he had been such a 
great benefactor, describe the last years and the death of this 
holy man. 

' To Don Laurence of Cepeda. 

' May the grace of the Holy Ghost be with you, my son ! 

' You may well believe with what pain I write the bad news 
which I have to send you. But as you must necessarily hear it 
from others, who perhaps will not be able to tell you all the con- 
soling facts which lighten the great trouble, I think it is best you 
should hear it from me. If we consider well the miseries of 
this life, we ought to rejoice at the happiness of those who are 
already with God. My son, it has pleased our Divine Master 
to take to Himself two days after the Feast of S. John, my 
good brother Laurence of Cepeda, your father. He died of the 
breaking of a blood-vessel, which took him from us in a few 
hours, but he had confessed and communicated on the Feast 
of S. John, and from what I know of his life I believe it was 
a flavour on the part of our Divine Lord not to give him a 
longer time. I am sure that such was the state of his soul, 
that his Divine Master found him ready, since for a long time 
past he had lived in continual preparation for that last hour. 
About a week before his death, he wrote to me that he had a 
very little time to live, though he knew not precisely which 
day would be his last. He died like a saint, commending 
himself to God ; so that we have reason to believe that he 
was a very short time in Purgatory, if he has been there at all. 
All his life long, as you know, he had been a great servant of 
God ; but for the last few years he had been so entirely de- 
voted to Him, that he could not bear to speak of any worldly 
things, nor to converse with any but those who spoke to him 
of our Lord. Everything else was a weariness to him, under 
which I was often obliged to console him. Li order to enjoy 
greater solitude he had retired to his country house at Sema, 
where he died, or rather where he began to live. If I could 



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1 



316 Life of 8. Teresa. 

write you certain particnlars of his interior life, yon wonld 
see how much you are indebted to Grod for having given yon 
such a father, and how strictly you are obliged so to Hve, aa 
to prove yourself worthy to be his son. But I cannot speak 
of these things in a letter. Take comfort fix)m what I have 
said, and be assured that, in the place where your father now 
is, he can do you more good than when he was still on earth. 
This separation has been very painM to me, and no less to 
the good Teresita of Jesus, your sister ; but she has shown 
what virtue God has given her, by bearing this blow like an 
Angel as she is. I may add that she is an excellent religious, 
and very happy in her vocation. I hope in the goodness of 
God that she will be like her father.' 

July 4, 1680. 

' To Mother Mary of S. Joseph, Prioress of Seville. 

* Jesus. The Holy Spirit be with your Reverence ! 

' My Mother, — It seems our Lord does not wish me to remain 
long without afflictions, for you must know that He has been 
pleased to call to Himself His good friend and servant, Laurence 
de Cepeda. He died after an iUness of six hours, from the break- 
ing of a blood-vessel. Two days before, he had received the 
Most Blessed Sacrament. He died in his perfect senses, recom- 
mending himself very devoutly to our Lord. I hope in the 
goodness of God that he is now in the enjoyment of eternal 
glory, for he always Hved in such a way as to have no other 
care but to serve Him ; everything else was a weariness to him ; 
and on this accoxmt he retired to his country house, which was 
about a league from Avila, in order to avoid the noise and 
gaiety of the world. 

* His prayer was continual, for he always kept himself in 
the presence of God ; hence His Majesty filled his soul with 
so many graces and favours, that sometimes I have been quite 
astonished at them. He had a great attraction to penance, 
and would have practised greater austerities than I thought 
fit for him. He gave me an account of all his interior life, 
and paid wonderfdl attention to all I said to him. This I 
think arose from the great affection which he bore me. I now 
return such affection by rejoicing that he has left this miser- 



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Letter to the Prioress of Seville. 317 

able life, and is now in a place of repose. THs I say, not for 
the sake of saying it, but I assure you when I think of his 
happiness I feel great joy. I grieve much for his children, 
Jbut I hope Qt)d will provide for them through the prayers of 
their father. 

* I have written thus fiilly to your Reverence, because I know 
you will be grieved to hear of his death, and this account may 
help to console you all, for he certainly deserves to be regretted 
by all the sisters. It was wonderftQ to see what he felt on 
hearing of your afflictions, for great was the love he had for 
your house. Now is the time to fepay that love by recom- 
mending his soul to God, on condition, however, that, if he 
should not stand in need of your prayers (as I think he does 
not, considering the life he led), they may be applied to those 
souls who have greater need of them, in order that they may 
be relieved thereby. 

' I must tell you that a short time before his death he wrote 
to me at S. Joseph's Convent in Segovia, where I now am, and 
which is eleven leagues from Avila. In that letter he said 
many things with regard to the shortness of life, which quite 
astonished me. As then, my daughter, it is certain that every- 
thing passes quickly away, we ought continually to be think- 
ing of a good death, rather than of the means how we are to 
live. Since I must still remain in this world, God grant that 
I may serve Him in something. I am four years older than 
my brother was, and yet God has been pleased that I should 
survive him. I have now quite recovered from my last illness, 
though I still have my usual indispositions, especially a pain 
in my head. 

* Tell Roderick Alvarez that his letter just came when I 
wanted it, for it speaks of the great advantage of afflictions. 
Tell hiTn also that I think God works miracles through him 
even during his life ; what then wiU He do after his death ! I 
have just heard that the Moriscos of Seville are conspiring 
together to get possession of the city. What a fine opportunity 
you wiU all have of becoming martyrs ! Enquire if the report 
be true, and order the M. Sub-Prioress to send me an account 
of every particular. I was very much pleased to hear that she 
is in good health and grieved to hear that you are ill. For the 



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318 Life of 8. Teresa. 

love of Grod, take great care of yotirself. I have been told a 
good remedy for yonr malady, viz. dog-roses beaten to powder, 
when they are dry, about half an oxmce should be taken every 
morning. But ask the doctor about it. Let me beg of you 
not to be so long again without writing to me. Remember me 
very kindly to all the sisters, and especially to sister S. Fran- 
cis. Mother-Prioress and all the community here send their 
regards. It must seem to you very delightftd to be among 
standards and the tumults of war. God grant that you may 
know how to turn all the strange things which you must see 
to your spiritual profit. I^ is very necessary, however, for you 
to be on your guard, lest you should be distracted by them. I 
am very anxious you should all become saints. 

* What would you say if the foundation in Portugal were to 
come to pass ? Don Teutonic, Archbishop of Evora, informs 
me that the town is not more than forty leagues firom this 
place. I should feel great comfort were the foundation begun. 
Since God spares my life, I desire to do something for His 
honour and glory ; and as I have not long to live, I will not 
spend my time so idly as I have done in past years, during 
which I suffered so much in my interior. As to other things, 
what I have done is not worth speaking about. Beg of our 
Lord to give me strength, that I may employ my time in doing 
something for His glory. 

* I have already told you, that you may show this letter to 
P. Gregory. I hope he will consider it as addressed to 
himself, for I certainly do love him in our Lord, and I have a 
great desire to see him. My brother died on the Sunday after 
the Feast of S. John. May His Majesty watch over yon, and 
make you what I desire you to be ! 

* Your Reverence's servant, 

'Teresa op Jesus.' 

Prom the letters addressed by S. Teresa to her brotter it 
appears that she directed him in the spiritual life. Slie en- 
courages him under the fears and scruples by which he -was 
afflicted ; reproves him for an imprudent vow which he had 
made never to commit a venial sin, and directs him to get it 
commuted ; replies to various questions on spiritual subjects, 



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Vision of her Brother in Glory. 319 

assigning to him different exercises of mortification, and pre- 
scribing rules with regard to his method of prayer. Such was 
the high estimation in which Laurence held his sister, that he 
wished to oblige himself by a promise to obey her in the 
direction of his soul. S. Teresa, however, would not allow him 
to do more than apply to her for counsel. Besides the above- 
mentioned revelation of his eternal happiness, the Saint was 
fevoured with another blessed vision regarding him at Holy 
Communion. As she approached the altar, she saw the glorious 
S. Joseph on one side, and her blessed brother oi^ the other, 
accompanying her with lighted candles. 

Laurence de Gepeda lefb his sister executrix of his will, in 
which he signified his desire to be buried in the church of her 
convent at Avila, leaving a portion of his wealth for the build- 
ing of a chapel there, in honour of the holy martyr S. Laurence. 

On her arrival at Valladolid the holy Mother again fell 
dangerously ill ; her recovery was retarded by the press of 
business which now fell upon her, and which was greatly 
increased by the cares brought upon her by her brother's will. 
* Oh ! my children,* she writes to the Prioress and religious at 
Avila, ' what trouble and weariness do these temporal goods 
bring with them. I have always thought so, and now I know 
it by experience. Li my opinion all the labours and anxieties 
-which I have endured in all our foxmdations have fallen far 
short of what I am now enduring on this account : it may be 
that my illness makes me feel the burden heavier.' 

Francis, the eldest son of Laurence of Cepeda, soon after the 
death of his father, expressed his desire to enter religion, and 
received the habit of Mount Carmel ; but apparently his was 
not a true vocation, for a few months afterwards the Saint 
-writes of the sudden change which had taken place in his 
mind, and not long afterwards she writes to his brother in 
America of his approaching marriage, * Don Francis,' she 
says, ' has always hitherto been very virtuous, and I hope in 
the mercy of Gk)d that he will continue so for the future, for 
lie is a very good Christian.' Teresita had received the religious 
liabit at S. Joseph's at Avila. 

The foxmdation at Valencia was an occasion of some anxiety 
to Teresa. Mary Baptist, her niece, the Prioress of Valla- 



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320 Life of S. Teresa. 

dolid, with lier nsual promptness and energy, nrged h&p 
greatlj to the undertaking. ' Yet,' sajs the Saint, * she could 
not persuade me, for I saw no prospect of success, because 
the monastery was to be founded in poverty ; and I was told 
that, as the town was very poor, the nuns would not receive 
sufficient support. I was about a year considering ihis foun- 
dation, as well as that of Burgos, and at first I was not so 
averse to it, but many difficulties afterwards presented them- 
selves to my mind, though it was for this object alone that I 
had come 1» Valladolid. I know not whether it was the 
weakness left by my iUness, or the devil who desired to 
hinder the good which was afterwards done there. 

*' The truth is, I am astonished and afflicted (and often 
I have complained thereof to our Lord) to see how the poor 
soul participates in the infirmity of the body, which it seems 
must follow its laws, and be subject to all its necessities and 
trials. It appears to me that one of the greatest troubles and 
miseries of life is the want of noble courage to bring the body 
into subjection ; for though pain and sickness be troublesome, 
yet I accoxmt this as nothing, when the soul can rise above them 
in the might of her love, praising God for them, and receiving 
them as gifts ftom His hand. But on the one hand to be 
sufiering, and on the other to be able to do nothing, is a 
terrible thing, especially for a soul that has an ardent desire to 
find no rest, either interior or exterior, on earth, but to 
employ herself entirely in the service of her great Gtod, In 
this case there is no other remedy but patience and the 
acknowledgment of our misery, and perfect resignation of 
ourselves to the will of Gt>d, that He may dispose of us as He 
pleases, and how He pleases. I was in this state, though 
beginning to get well, but my weakness was so great that I 
had bst the confidence God usually gave me in beginning 
these foundations. Everything seemed impossible to me, and 
I greatly needed some one to encourage me, for some in- 
creased my fears instead of diminishing them, and others 
failed to cure my cowardice.' 

Our Lord sent S. Teresa the encouragement she needed in 
the person of F. Bipalda, of the Socieiy of Jesus, who 
happened to come to Valladolid at this time. 



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Fears dispelled by a Word from Our Lord. 321 

* He was,' says she, ' a great servant of God, and one who 
had been my confessor for some time. I told him my dif&cnlty, 
and that I wished him, as in the place of Gk)d, to declare his 
opinion. He greatly encouraged me, and told me that my 
cowardice proceeded fix)m old age ; bnt I clearly saw that it 
was not so, for I am now older, and yet am not in the same 
state of discouragement. He must have known it himself, but 
he said so only to reprove me for my cowardice, and show me 
that it did not come firom Gk)d. I had nothing either for this 
foundation of Palencia or for that of Burgos : but this was no 
hindrance, for so I was accustomed to begin. He told me 
that I should not on any accbxmt re^se the foundation of 
Palencia. F. Balthasar Alvarez, Provincial of the Socieiy, 
had told me the same in Toledo, but then I was well. Now 
the devil, or (as I have said) my illness, held me so fast, that 
though I was more inclined to the foundation, I was still 
afraid to proceed. The Prioress of Valladolid helped me as 
much as she could, because she was very anxious for the foun- 
dation of Palencia ; but when she saw me so cold, she began 
to fear also. Until the true Sun shone upon nie the words 
of His servants were insufficient to encourage me, and hence 
it may be seen that it is not I who do anything in these founda- 
tions, but He who is all-powerful. 

*One day, after I had communicated, being still in these 
doubts, and undetermined what to do, I asked our Lord to 
enlighten me, that I might do His Will in all things, for my 
coldness was not so great as ever to fail in this desire. Our 
Lord said to me, as if in reproof: " Of what art thou afraid ? 
When have I been wanting to thee ? I am the same now that 
I have ever been. Do not neglect to make these two foxmda- 
tions ? " great Gt>d ! how different are Thy words fix)m 
those of men ! I became so resolute and courageous, that all 
the world would not have been able to hinder me. I set to 
work immediately, and our Lord also began to afford me the 
means. 

' I chose two nuns for the foundation whose means enabled 
me to purchase a house ; and although I was told that it was 
impossible to live in Palencia upon alms, yet it was the same 
to me as if it had not been said, for to found a monastery with 



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322 Life of 8. Teresa. 

endowment was, I clearly saw, not then possible ; and since 
God liad commanded me to fonnd the monastery, I was 
assured that His Majesty would provide for it. Thus, althougli 
I had not yet quite recovered, I determined to go, though the 
weather was still cold, for I lefb Yalladolid on the Feast of 
the Holy Innocents, in the year 1580. A gentleman of 
Palencia lent us a house of his which he had hired until 
S. John's day. I wrote to a Canon of that same city, wlio I 
was assured was a servant of God (for, as we have seen in 
the other foundations, our Lord selects some one in eyeiy 
place to assist us, because he sees the little I can do myself). 
I wrote to this Canon, entreating him with aU possible secrecy 
to get the house free for us, without telling the person who 
lived in it for what purpose we wanted it. The Canon, whose 
name was Keynoso, managed the business so well, that he not 
only had the house ready for us, but provided beds and many 
other conveniences, of which we stood in great need, for the 
cold was excessive ; and the day before was so foggy, that we 
could scarcely see one another. It is true, we took Httle rest 
till we had fitted up a place for saying Mass the next day, 
before anyone could know we had arrived. And in these 
foundations I have always found this to be the best course, 
for, if we begin to take opinions, the devil raises a disturbance, 
which, though he may not prevent the foundation, hinders and 
delays it. And so in the morning at day-break Mass was said. 

' I had brought with me five nuns, and a lay-sister (Anne of 
S. Bartholomew) who had been my companion for a long 
time ; and so great a servant of God is she, and so discreet, 
that she can be of greater assistance to me than all the rest 
of the nuns. I was much pleased that the house was fonnded 
on the Feast of King David, to whom I have a great devotion. 
I sent word early in the morning to the Bishop, who did not 
know that we had arrived. He presently paid us a visit, and, 
with the great kindness which he had always shown us, said 
he would supply us with bread, and he ordered his steward to 
provide us with many other necessaries. The Order is so 
much indebted to him, that it is bound to recommend him to 
our Lord, living or dead. 

* The joy was great which all the people showed at the 



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Great Charity of the People of Palenda. 323 

establishment of this convent. The knowledge that the Bishop 
greatly approved it was much in our favour, for he was 
exceedingly beloved in the city ; but the people of Palencia 
seemed to exceed in nobility and generosity of mind any whom 
I have seen elsewhere ; and so I rejoice daily more and more 
at the foundation of this house.' 

The next step was to found a permanent houBe for the 
religious. A church dedicated to our Lady, and much fre- 
quented by the people, was bestowed upon them by the 
Bishop ; and S. Teresa resolved upon the purchase of two 
houses adjoining it. After considerable difficulty and opposi- 
tion, the matter was so far arranged as to want only another 
security in addition to that of Canon Reynoso for the 
purchase. The Canon went in search of the Vicar- General, 
* to whom,' says S. Teresa, * we are much indebted. He met 
him in the street, and the Vicar- General asked him whither he 
was going. The Canon replied that he was going to ask him 
to sign an agreement. He laughed, and said : * Do you ask 
me to become security for so large a sum ? ' and immediately, 
while sitting on his mule, he signed the deed — a thing very 
wonderftd in these our times. I cannot leave off praising the 
charity which I found in Palencia. The truth is, it seemed 
to me to resemble that of the Primitive Church, and to be 
very unusual in this age of the world. We had no revenue, 
and the people were to provide us with food ; and yet they 
were not only not offended, but they considered it a very great 
favour shown them by God ; and they said the truth, if we 
rightly consider the matter, for to have only one church more 
where the Most Blessed Sacrament is reserved would be an 
exceeding favour. 

* May He be for ever blessed ! Amen.' 

When the monastery was finished and the nuns ready to 
enter it, the Bishop wished them to proceed thither with 
great solemnity on some day within the Octave of Corpus 
Christi, and he came over himself from Valladolid for the 
occasion. The Chapter, the different Orders, and almost the 
whole city, assembled together with excellent music. *We 
all went in procession from the house were we dwelt, in 
our white cloaks and veils, to a parish that was near the 

y2 



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324 Uft of S. Teresa. 

house of onr Lady, where we were met by an ima^ to which 
the people had great devotion. The Most Blessed Sacrament 
was then placed in the ohnrch with great solemnity, joy, and 
devotion. The nnns were with ns who had come for the 
foundation of Soria, and we all carried candles in our hands. 
I believe our Lord was exceedingly praised that day by 1i» 
people of the place. May H« always be thus praLsed by Bis 
creatures ! Amen/ 



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325 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
1581 

BBIEF GRANTED AT ROME FOB THE ERECTION OF A SEPARATE 
PROVINCE — LETTERS OF S. TERESA TO F. GRACIAN, ON THE 
AFFSIkIRS OF THE ORDER — OPENING OP THE CHAPTER AT AL- 
CALA— F. GRACIAN IS ELECTED PROVINCIAL— LETTER FROM 
8. IBBBSA. 

While S. Teresa y^s occupied in the foimdation of Palencia, 
the long-expected brief was granted at Bome for the erection 
of the reform into a separate Province, on June 22, 1580. 
The folloviring is her own account of the conclusion of this 
long trial : — 

^ When I was at Palencia, it pleased God to make a separa- 
tion between the fathers of the reform and those of the miti- 
gation, each division forming a Province of its own ; and this 
was one of the most joyful events which could have taken 
place, and the most conducive to our peace and quiet. At 
the request of our Catholic king, Don Philip, who has always 
greatly &voured us, a very ample brief was obtained from 
Rome, by virtue of which a Chapter was convened for this 
purpose at Alcali, by the Itev. John de las Cuevas, of the 
Dominican Order, Prior of Talarera, who was appointed by 
the Pope, and nominated also by his Majesty, and who was 
a very holy and discreet person, as such an office required. 
The king defrayed all expenses of the Chapter, and by his 
command the university favoured it greatly. The Chapter 
was held in a convent of our Order which bears the name of 
S. Cyril of the Discalced, and all proceeded with remarkable 
peace and concord. It is needless for me to mention here 
what passed at this Chapter. Our Lord was thus pleased to 
finish this important business to the honour and glory of His 



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326 Life of S. Teresa. 

glorions Mother, who is the Ladj and Patroness of our 
Order. This separation has given me the greatest pleasure 
and consolation which I conld receive in this life ; for dnring 
more than twenty-five years the Order has had to endnie 
more troubles, persecutions, and afflictions than I have space 
to relate. Our Lord only knows them, and he that knowB not 
the troubles which have been endured cannot conceive the joy 
of my heart at seeing them thus concluded, and my intense 
desire that all the world should praise our Lord for it. Let us 
also recommend to Him our holy king, Don Philip, by whose 
means Grod has brought this work to so happy a conclusion, 
for the devil had ah-eady exerted his craft so well, t^at, but 
for the king, our cause would have been lost. 

'And now we are all in peace, reformed and mitigated, 
having no one to disturb us in the service of our Lord, 
wherefore, brethren and sisters, since His Majesty has heard 
our prayers, let us make haste to serve Him. Let the living 
(who have been eye-witnesses of all this trial) consider the 
favours He has shown us, and from what troubles and cares 
He has freed us ; and, for the love of God, let not those who 
shall come after us, when they find everything smooth and 
easy, fall short in any degree of the perfection to which they 
are called. Let not that be said of them which is said €i 
certain Orders, that their beginning was commendable. Since 
this is our beginning, let us strive generously always to 
advance from good to better. Consider, my daughters, how, 
by means of very small breaches, the devil is continually 
preparing the way for greater. 

' Never let it be said, " There is no harm in this," or, " These 
are extremes." Oh, my daughters, we ought to regard as of 
great importance everything which impedes our progress in 
the service of Ood. For the love of our Lord, I beseech you 
to remember how soon everything passes away ; what a favour 
our Lord has bestowed on us, in caUing tis to this Order; 
and the great punishment they will have to endure who shall 
introduce any relaxation; and ever place before your eyes 
those holy Prophets from whom we have descended, for we 
have many Saints in Heaven who have worn the habit. Let 
us cherish, by the Divine assistance, the holy presumption of 



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The Reform erected into a separate Province. 327 

'«» aspiring to become what they were. The conflict, sisters, 

will last but for a short time, while the reward is eternal. Let 

i ns despise those things which are earthly, and seek only after 

s iii those which are in Heaven, that so we may more and more 

ii! love and serve our Lord, who shall be hereafter onr Hving 

eis Beatitude. Amen, Amen. To Him be benediction, praise, and 

iflSf thanksgiving ! ' 

1^: The work before the Chapter was the establishment of a 

iriir separate Province for the reform, the election of the Provincial 

pia and his Council, and the examination and confirmation of the 
ffii • constitutions which had been drawn up By F. Gracian, as 

soli Apostolic Visitor, for the Mars, and by S. Teresa for the nuns. 
F. de las Cuevas relied on the former for the preparation for 

jg all the matters to be decided, and especially for everything 

f J connected with the government of the nuns. The following 

jig? extracts from S. Teresa's letters to F. Gracian, previous to the 

]^ opening of the Chapter, will give her judgment on the various 

^ij subjects Tinder discussion: — 

* I know not. Reverend Father, why you should not speak 

your mind as to what regards us, the nuns of the reform. In 
jjgj my letter to the Commissary- Apostolic, I have expressed myself 

"i( so strongly on the benefit which we have received from your 

ui visitations (which was the simple truth), that you may speak 

^ with fdll liberty. You wiU do us a favour thereby, for which 

j[, we shall be deeply grateful. It is a duty which you owe to 

1^ our sisters, in return for all the tears which this struggle has 

1 • , cost them. Indeed, I would not have anyone but you and 

F. Nicolas to meddle with the subject. It is not necessary . 
.., that our constitutions, or anything relating to us, should be 

brought before the Chapter. These points were always ar- 

ranged between F. Peter Hermandez and myself. Some of 
./ the things which I have set down may seem to you of very 
' , little importance, but I consider them so necessary that I 
' \ would not have one oridtted. I may claim to have a voice in 

the Chapter with regard to all that affects the nuns. I have 
' sejen many things, apparently of little importance, the occasion 

of much injury to them. 
"^ * I see plainly that, in this first election, it is most important 

4 



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328 Life of 8. Teresa. 

in every respect that you should be chosen Provincial, and I 
have said so to the Father Commissary. 

* But should F. Nicolas be elected, you, as his companioD, 
might afford him the assistance of your experience, and of 
your knowledge of our reHgious, both friars and nuns. I have 
told the Commissary that we know from, experience that 
Macari/us (F. Antony of Jesus) has not the qualities requisite 
for this office, adding that this was also the opinion of F. 
Hermandez, who, but for this, would gladly have put him in 
authority. I have also pointed out F. John of Jesus, that I 
might not seem t* think of no one but you two, but I have 
said,, at the same time, that I do not believe that he has the 
gifb of government, though, if he had one of you for his com- 
panion, he might be able to fill the office, because, as I believe, 
he is a man of sense, who would take advice. If you were 
with him, he would follow yours exactly, and so he would 
govern well, but I am quite sure he will not get the Totes. 
May the Lord, who has done so much for us, direct this 
election to His greater glory ! 

' If you should be made Provincial, try to have F. Nicolas 
for your companion. As F. Bartholomew is in such bad health 
he cannot abstain, and some will make unfavourable remarb 
upon him. At all events, in the beginning, it will be yeiy 
useful to have F. Nicolas with you, for his advice will he 
always worth having. After having borne so patiently as yon 
have done so many troublesome people, it will be a relief to 
you to be with one from whom you will never have anything 
. to suffer. Say everything that is kind from me to F. Bar- 
tholomew. I am sure that, in his state of health, he must he 
worn out by your habit of never taking any rest. It is enough to 
kill yourself and anyone who may be with you. I often think 
how ill you used to look in Holy Week. For the love of Goi 
do not preach so continually this Lent, nor eat those miserable 
fishes. Though you may not perceive it at first, excess of 
labour on one side, and bad food on the other, will not fail to 

do you harm, and then come temptations I have given 

F. Mariano a long lecture on the temptation, which he tells me 
he feels, to vote for Maccurius. I do not understand that man 
upon this point, but I do not intend to enter upon it with any 



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Letter to Father Oradan. 329 

one but yon. Therefore, keep wliat I have written npon it to 
yourself, for this is of the utmost importaoice. Do not fail 
to have recourse to F. Nicolas, and let the Capitular Fathers 
be well convinced that you do not seek the office for yourself. 
I do not see, for my part, how any of them can in conscience 

vote for any but one of you two If any change is to be 

made in the constitutions of the nuns, do not specify of what 
their shoes are to be made, but say simply that they may wear 
shoes, or there would be no end to their scruples. I should 
advise, if you think proper, that the rule made by F. Her- 
mandez should be aboHshed, which forbids us to eat eggs in 
Lent, and bread at collation. I could never persuade him 
not to put in these two articles. With regard to fasting, it is 
sufficient to observe the law of the Church, without imposing 
another in addition. It is a source of scruples to the religious, 
and hurts the health of many, who think that they have 
strength to do both, and, in fiwt, have it not Our con- 
stitutions say that the religious are to live on alms, and cannot 
possess refoenvss. As many of our houses are endowed, it would 
be well either to omit this article, or that the Father Commis- 
sary should declare that, as it is permitted by the Council of 

Trent, the Carmelites may possess revenues I have 

been much moved by what you say in your letter, that you 
will always be on the side of the nuns. At least, you will 
always be their true father, as you are assuredly bound to be. 
If you were to live for ever, and they were always to be ' 
governed by you, many of our requests to the Chapter might 
be omitted. Oh ! how earnestly do they pray that you may 
remain Provincial ; nothing else in the world, I beheve, would 
content them. May God, my Father, preserve you to your 
children ! They all commend themselves to your prayers, and 
I the most earnestly of them all. 

' These are the memorials which have been sent me by the 
nxms ; when I have received the rest I will send them to you. 
I do not know whether they are now satisfactory, but it is 
quite clear that it was necessary for me to see them first, as 
your Reverence wisely directed. That of your Mend, Mother 
Isabel of S. Dominic, was the only one which required no cor- 
rection. ... It is, in my opinion^ of the utmost importance 



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330 Life of 8. Teresa. 

that it should be established by rule, that the confessors of onr 
religions should not be their Superiors. So essential a point 
do I hold this to be in our Order, that, though I agree with 
you in thinking it of great importance that they should be 
directed by religious, I should prefer to forego this advantage 
and to leave things as they are, rather than to see each confes- 
sor become the Superior of the house to which he is attached 
There are serious evils attending such an arrangement, as 1 
will tell you when we meet. On this point I beseech yon 
.attend to me. . . . For the same reason, and for many others, 
it is equally necessary tha*: the nuns should not be snbject to 
the Priors. K one among them should be wanting in discre- 
tion, he might order things which would cause a great deal of 
confusion. As we shall never have any one like F. Gracian 
to govern us, and as we must consider the ftiture, tlie great 
experience which we have acqtiired makes it our duty to avoid 
all dangers of this kind. The greatest benefit which tiie 
Fathers of the Chapter can confer upon our religious is to 
establish a rule that the only relation in which the confessor 
shall stand towards them is that of hearing their confessions, 
and that he shall not converse with them out of the confessional 
To preserve the recollection of the house, it is sufficient for 
him, as confessor, to report its state to the Provincial. . . . 
The infraction of this rule, and the reception of too great & 
number of religious, are the two things which I have always 
most feared, as Kkely to do us the greatest harm. Therefore, 
Reverend Father, I beg of you to spare no pains to make these 
two points in our institutions firm and unch angeable. I 
expect this favour from you. Pray give many kind messages 
from me to F. Antony of Jesus, and tell him that the letter 
which I wrote to him was not one of those which are answered 
by silence, and that as I seem to have been addressing one 
who is deaf and dumb I will write to him no more. Add 
that he sends F. Mariano away weU satisfied with his en- 
deavours to procure for the religious a more sufficient supply 
of food than the Priors are accustomed to give them. I 
declare to you. Reverend Father, that, if this be not remedied 
in all our houses, we shall see what will come of it. The 
Capitular Fathers ought to impose it upon the Priors as an 



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J 



Tather Gradan is elected Provindal. 331 

obedience to give proper food to their subjects. God Vill 
never fail to send them "what is necessary. If they give little 
to their religions, He will give little to them. For the love of 
God, Reverend Father, take care that there be aU fitting 
cleanliness in the beds and table linen of the friars, whatever 
expense it may entail. For want of cleanliness is a terrible 
thing. I am decidedly of opinion that this ought to be ruled 
by a constitution, and indeed, being what they are, I doubt 
whether a constitution will be sufl&cient. . . . Now, as to the 
desire which you express to me, not to be elected or confirmed 
by the Chapter, I am writing on this subject to the Father 
Commissary. If I have myself desired to see you at liberty, 
I see clearly that that desire sprang rather from the great 
affection which I bear you in our Lord, than froni regard to 
the good of the Order. From that affection arises the natural 
sensibility which causes me to suffer so much, when I see that 
all our fathers do not understand what they owe you, and 
what labour you have endured for the reform. Hence it is 
that I cannot bear to hear a word said against you : it is a 
thing which I cannot endure. And yet, after having weighed 
all this, the general good compels me to desire that this burden 
should be laid upon you. God avert, my Father, from our 
houses so great a misfortune as that of being deprived of your 
care ! Our discalced Carmelites require a government which 
will regulate the most minute details, and a Superior who can 
take in both sides of a question. They are the servants of our 
Lord, and He will watch over them.' 

On March 4 F. Gracian was elected Provincial. He imme- 
diately appointed three Vicars-Provincial, and gave to S. Teresa 
an authority over aU the convents of the nuns, subordinate 
only to his own. 

In a letter written on Good Friday S. Teresa thus expresses 
her joy at the good news of this election, which she had just 
received from him : * May our adorable Lord reward you, my 
Reverend Father, for the good tidings contained in your letter, 
and especially for sending me the printed brief! I only want 
now to see the constitutions printed also, and God, I doubt 
not, will grant us this fe.vour. I know how much labour it 
must have cost you to obtain this brief, to set all things in 



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332 Life of 8. Teresa. 

order, and to bring all things to such a happy teimination. 
Maj He who has enabled yon to do it be eternally blessed! 
It seems to me a dream. J£ we had had nothing to do but to 
wish for it, we never could have imagined anj conclusioii 
nearly approaching that which Grod has wrought in onr fetyonr. 
May He be blessed for ever ! As I do not understand Latin, I 
have not been able to read the brief. I am waiting till the end 
of this Holy Season for some one to be kind enough to ezpkin 
it to me. Yesterday your packet was brought to me, and 
fearing, if I read too much, my bead would not be strong* enough 
for the TenebrsB, from which, on account of our small number, 
I could not be absent, I only read your letters. Be pleased to 
tell me whither you are going when you leave Madrid. A 
thousand things may happen which may make it necessary 
that I should know where you are. ... I have one request 
to make to you, which shall be my Easter gift. Some time 
ago, to console F. John of the Cross for all he had to suffer is 
Andalusia, I promised him, that, if it should please onr Lord to 
give us a separate Province, I would do all in my power to 
bring him here. He now claims my promise, and expresses 
his fear of being elected Prior of Baeza. He writes to me to 
beg you not to confirm his election. If it be a thin^ in your 
power, it will be but just to grant him this consolation, for be 
has been overwhelmed with suffering. . . . As to the d&i 
nuns who are with me, they do not know how sufficiently to 
express their delight at having you for tlieir father. Their ' 
joy is as perfect as any joy on earth can be. May God one | 
day give us the possession of that which will never end, and j 
may He, Reverend Father, grant you a blessed Easter ! ' 



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333 



CHAPTER XXV. 
1581, 1582. 

POITNDATION OP SOEIA — 0. TERESA IS APFODflBD PRIORESS OP 

8\ Joseph's at ayila — ^letters to mart op s. joseph and to 

p. GRACIAN— what HAD BEPALLSN THOSE WHO AIDED THE 
SAINT IN HER PIRST POUNDATION. 

Befoee S. Teresa left Palencia, shd received a letter from 
Don Alonzo Velasquez, Bishop of Osma, begging her to 
make a fonndation at Soria, a small town in his diocese. 
This Prelate had been Canon of Toledo during the time of 
her residence in that city ; he had been her ordinary con- 
fessor there, and had afforded her great consolation and 
support under the affictions which then weighed heavily 
upon her. His veneration for his holy penitent was un- 
bounded, and he was no sooner raised to the episcopal see 
I of Osma, than he seized an opportunity afforded him by 
the pious liberality of a noble lady, Beatrice of Beaumonte, 
t to establish a convent of the reform. He wrote to the 
Saint, earnestly begging her to come in person to found 
the house, offering, on his own part, a church, and, on the 
part of Dofla Beatrice, a convenient house for the convent. 

Teresa was ftdl of joy at receiving such an application 
from, one whom she so greatly* loved and revered. She 
immediately prepared for the journey, and chose Catharine 
of Christ, one of the holiest of her religious, to accompany 
her as Superioress of the new foundation. F. Gracian was some- 
Tvliat doubtftil of the prudence of this choice, and represented 
that Catharine could not write and had no knowledge of 
business. * Content you. Father,' replied the Saint, * Catha- 
rine of Christ knows well how to love God ; she is a great 



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334 Life of S. Teresa. 

Saint, and adorned with high perfection, and she wants 
nothing else to enable her to govern well.' 

S. Teresa and her daughters were warmly welcomed both 
by the Bishop and by Dofia Beatrice, and on the day after their 
arrival, F. Nicolas Dona, who accompanied them, said Mass 
in the new convent, on June 3, 1581. 

On the following Feast of the Assumption the holy Mother 
gave the habit to two novices; and thus was established 
the convent of Soria, so peace^illy and happily as to cause 
some little uneasiness to the Saint. *I am afraid of this 
foundation,' said she, 'because it has been made with so 
much ease, and without any contradiction.' 

Troubles and calamities arose afterwards, which satisfied 
her mind that the devil thought the work sufficiently success- 
ftil to give him uneasiness. In a letter written to the Prioress, 
to thank her for some charitable help afforded to the sisters 
at Avila, then in great necessity, after congratulating the 
religious of Soria upon the mutual peace and charity which 
reigned among them, she congratulates them still more on hav- 
ing been unjustly evil spoken of. * Oh, how thankful ought we 
to be for this,' she says, 'for hitherto in this foundation there 
has been little opportunity for merit ! ' 

If the journey to Soria had been prosperous and the foun- 
d^.tion without difficulty, the religious had trials enough to 
endure in their journey home, which was undertaken under 
the care of a good Prebendary of Palencia, named Bibera, 
F. Nicolas Doria being needed elsewhere. 

' I did not wish,' says S. Teresa, * anyone else to travel 
with me, except my companion (Anne of S. Bartholomew), 
who, by her diligence, was enough for me ; and the less noise 
there is the better able I am to travel. But on this occasion 
I paid for my easy and pleasant journey to Soria, because, 
though our guide knew the way to Segovia, he knew not the 
waggon-road, so that he led us through places where we 
were often obliged to alight, and sometimes to go along 
narrow paths where our waggon seemed suspended between 
craggy precipices. If we took guides of the country, they 
directed us as far as they knew the way was good ; but when 
we came into a bad road, left us, saying, they had some 



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Anxiety respecting 8. Joseph's at AvUa. 335 

husmess to attend to. Before we could find any inn, we had 
suffered much from the heat, and the waggon was ofben in 
danger of being upset. I was very sorry for the good 
Prebendary who travelled with us, for, though we had been 
told we were going right, we were continually obliged to 
return again: but his virtue was so deeply rooted, that he 
appeared not at all displeased, which I greatly admired, and 
praised our Lord for it, for where virtue is solid, events can 
affect us but Httle. I praise our Lord for dehvering us fix)m 
the road.' 

They reached S. Joseph's at Segovia on the Vigil of St. 
Bartholomew. * Our nuns,' says the Saint, 'had been uneasy 
at my long absence : but, as the road was so bad, it was with 
the greatest difficulty that we got along. They caressed us 
much, for Gk)d never sends me any trouble which He does not 
immediately reward. I rested there above eight days; and 
because this foundation had been finished without any trouble, 
I made light of this, considering it to be nothing. 

' I left Soria with pleasure, because I hope, through the 
mercy of God, He will always be served by those who hve 
there as He is served now. May He be blessed and praised 
for ever and ever ! Amen. Thanks be to God ! ' 

A trial which had pressed heavily on the heart of S. Teresa 
for some time past was the unsatisfactory state of her first 
foundation at Avila. She writes to Mary of S. Joseph in 
November 1581 : — 'Your last letter was a great joy to me, 
which is indeed no new thing, for I am accustomed to receive 
from your letters a consolation which makes up to me for the 
pain and anxiety which come to me from so many others. If 
you love me weU, I assure you that I return your love, and 
like you to tell me that you love me. Oh ! how true it is that 
our poor human nature looks for a return, and this cannot be 
wrong, since our Lord Himself looks for it from us. And 
though there is an infinite distance between the love we owe ■ 
to Him, who has so many claims to our service, and that 
which belongs to feeble creatures, nevertheless it is an advan- 
tage to us to resemble Him in anything, if it be only in this. 
I wrote you a long letter from Soria, which I am afraid F. 
Nicolas did not send you ; in it I said that we had prayed so 



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336 Life of 8. Teresa. 

mnch in all our convents for you and your daughters, that 
far from being surprised that you are now enjoying such 
peace, and are so good and virtuous, I am astonished that you 
have not become Saints fit for canonization ; for we never 
ceased during that terrible tempest to ask the help of the 
Almighty for you, and to beseech Him to restore yon to tran- 
quillity. Now, my dear Mother, as you are enjoying the 
sweets of repose, you are bound to pray for those -who are 
stUl in the heat of the battle, especially for this convent of 
S. Joseph's at Avila, which is truly in need of prayers, and 
which has just elected me Prioress, as a remedy for the 
necessities in which they are. What a burden for a person 
of my age, overwhelmed with infirmities and occupations, to 
be chained with the government of a house in the state to 
which this is reduced ! I do not know if you have heard that 
a certain gentleman, lately deceased, has left a sum of jnonej 
to this convent, of which it will not obtain possession for 
some time to come, so that the only effect produced at present 
by the legacy has been to stop the supply of alms formerly 
received from the city. This has embarrassed us mnch, the 
more so as the house is already loaded with debt, so that I 
know not what will become of it. Pray for me, my dear 
daughter, for nature is weak, and sometimes gets weary d 
suffering, especially of being Prioress when there are so 
many troublesome matters to arrange. But if Gk)d be glori- 
fied by it, I shall esteem myself very happy, and account all 
my iaroubles as less than nothing.' 

In one of S. Teresa's letters to F. Gracian, before the 
opening of the Chapter at Alcala, she alludes to a more 
serious evil which had befallen the convent at Avila than 
any difficulties with regard to money. Under the rule of an 
incompetent Prioress, an inexperienced confessor, and the too 
easy government of F. Angelo de Salazar, the nnns of S. 
Joseph had fallen far short of the state of perfection in which 
their holy foundress had leffc them. They had sent np certain 
petitions to the Chapter, which F. Gracian had wisely ordered 
to be first laid before S. Teresa. * Your Reverence,' says she, 
' has done well to require that these papers should be fbst 
sent to me. The things demanded by the reHgioua of Avil» 



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Restores S. Josephs to its pmmitive Fervour. 337 

are such, that if they were granted, there would be little 
difference between them and the nuns of the Incarnation. I 
am amazed to see what the devil has already done, and it i& 
the confessor who is almost wholly in fault. He has always 
had an idea that all the religious ought to eat meat, and this 
is one of the permissions which they ask. Is it not wonder- 
ftQ ? I have been much grieved to see that this convent has 
^llen so far below its primitive perfection, and foresee that 
there will be much difficulty in restoring it to its former 
fervour, though it contains some excellent religious. This is 
not all. They have asked F. Angelo de Salazar, that some of 
them who are not in good health may keep something to eat 
in their ceUs ; and they ask it in such a way that I should 
not be surprised if it were granted them. Thus it is that 
TOgular observance gradually falls to the ground.' It was to 
remedy these evils, both spiritual and temporal, that S. 
Teresa, as formerly in the case of the convent of the Incarna- 
tion, received an obedience from F. Gracian, to undertake the 
government of the convent of S. Joseph, which the Prioress, 
Mary of Christ, a good religious, though an inefficient su- 
perioress, was thankfal to deliver over into her hands. Her 
election seems to have taken place some time in October, for 
on the 26th of that month she writes to F. Gracian : * I am 
very well now, and have just become a great Prioress.' In 
the letter to the Prioress of Seville just quoted, which was 
written on November 8, she speaks of the consolation which 
she feels in the piety and affection of her niece Teresita, who 
has not forgotten her old tenderness for her mothers at Seville. 
* You would be charmed, my dear Mother, to see her now ; 
with all her great HveHness, she has become very learned in 
the science of the Saints. Pray to Gt)d, I beseech you, still 
to give her His grace. In this world we can never be 
without fear. We continually implore our Lord to watch 
over her ; may He be for ever blessed for having left her 
to me ! ' 

The government of the holy Mother soon restored her 
beloved convent to its original fervour, and the blessing of our 
Lord which she brought with her, relieved it also from its 
temporal embarrassments. Anne of S. Bartholomew relates 



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338 Life of S. Teresa. 

that at this period she frequently saw her countenance radiant 
with celestial light, and that on one occasion especially, when 
she was holding Chapter, she saw otir Adorable Redeemer 
standing beside her, and the glory diffdsed fit)m His Divine 
Person seemed to encircle hers. 

On January 15, 1582, Anne of Jesus, accompanied by several 
religious, under the care of F. John of the Cross, was sent by 
S. Teresa to make a foundation at Granada. The holy 
mother had been earnestly entreated by M. Anne of Jesus to 
make this foundation myself, but this was rendered impossible 
by the necessity of preceding at once to Burgos, and she 
replied, *It is not the Will of our Lord that I should found 
a house at Granada, since He calls me elsewhere, but have no 
fear but that this foundation will prosper well. It is the Will^ 
of Gt>d that Mother Anne should be the foundress, and He 
will assist and uphold her in her undertaking.' 

S. Teresa remained at S. Joseph's till after the Festival at 
Christmas, purposing to return thither from Burgos for the 
profession of Teresita, and probably expecting that the sum- 
mons which she was awaiting from our Lord was to find her 
there. But of this, her last earthly desire, she was to make a 
sacrifice to Him. 

Just twenty years ago she had planted this Paradise of our 
Lord, which she had now weeded and beautified for Him 
anew. What had become of those who had laboured with her 
there ? Francis de Salcedo had gone before her to his rest, 
having testified by his last vnll his undying interest in the 
convent of S. Joseph. It was a legacy from this good man 
which had proved, for the time, an embarrassment rather than 
a reHef to the religious. 

Master Daza was still the oracle of Avila, and the estima- 
tion in which the Holy Mother held his judgment is proved by 
her quoting it to F. Gracian on the subject of the Chapter of 
Almodovar. In one of her letters to the Bishop of AvOa, 
before his removal to Palencia, she asks him to bestow a 
vacant canonry on the good ecclesiastic, as on one who had 
well deserved this favour at his hands, and who, she seems 
to think, had been somewhat unaccountably passed over. 
'After all, my Lord,' she says, ' everybody is not obliged to 



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John of OvalUy his Wife and Children. 339 

love you after the same fasMon as yonr poor Carmelites, wlio 
ask for notlmig but your love, and that God may long preserve 
you to them.' 

The faithful Guiomar d'Ulloa, after vainly taxing her feeble 
health in an attempt to bear the rigour of the reformed rule, 
had found her vocation to be the patient endurance of sickness 
and sohtude. Her heart was still at S. Joseph's, but, says 
the Saint, * she seldom comes to see us, for she is very iU.' 

John of OvaUe and Jane of Ahumadahad experienced severe 
reverses of fortune in the twenty years which had elapsed 
since the foundation of S. Joseph's. Teresa's letters to her 
sister are ftill of tender sympathy for these commonplace 
yet wearing trials, and she writes ever and anon to solicit 
aid for her from her brother Laurence, who seems, like her- 
self, to have been the general counsellor and helper in aU 
family distresses. * If you can spare John of Ovalle the money 
wherewith to buy some sheep, you will do a charitable deed.* 
These pious parents had one child only besides Gt)nzales, who 
did not long survive her who had once recalled hinn to life. 
Beatrice d' Ahumada struggled for many years with a vocation 
which mastered her at last, as she prayed before the tomb of 
S. Teresa. ' You may do what you will, and say what you 
like, Beatrice,' the Saint had said to her one day, *you will 
die a Carmehte after all.' And so she did, and a Oarmehte 
worthy to be the niece of S. Teresa, She became the brightest 
flower of the Convent of Alva, where her holy parents, having 
given their last and dearest offering to God, now rest beside 
both their children, in the chapel which they had endowed 
•with their inheritance, and which contains the priceless 
treasure of the rehcs of S. Teresa. 



z2 



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840 Life of 8. Teresa. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
1582. 

POTJin)ATIOH' OP BTTBGK)S— COtTRAGE OP THE SAINT IN STTK- 
MOrNTING ALL THE 0B8TACXES THROWN IN ITS WAT BY TTTR 

ABCHBISHOF — ^LETTEB TO HER NEPHEW IN AMEBICA TTTR 

archbishop's objections at last removed by a LETTER 
PROM THE BISHOP OP PALENCIA. 

It was oftieii said of onr Saint by her contemporaries, that 
.Teresa of Jesus could do cmythmg ; and doubtless she would 
have said the same herself, only adding, * Yet not I, bnt Gkrist 
who dwelleth in me.' In his deposition in the process of her 
canonization, Julian of Avila bears the following testimony to 
her heroic constancy : — * I conversed with her, heard her 
confessions, and administered Holy Commnnion to her fop 
twenty years, more or less ; and in all her fonndations, nntil 
God called her to Himself, I always accompanied and served 
her. . . . Neither labours, nor contradictions, nor hin- 
.derances, nor opposition, nor many other things, which it 
would be too long to relate, ever diminished, in the smallest 
degree, the fervour of that charity with which she offered 
every one of her actions to God. She might truly have said 
with S. Paul, "What shall separate me from the love of 
Christ ? " I can affirm, as an eye-witness, that nothing, 
either adverse or prosperous, whether to health, or honour, 
or life, or anything else whatsoever, ever delayed her for a 
moment in the work of her foundations, being ftdly per- 
suaded, as she was, that she should never be left without the 
aid of our Lord.' 

The following was one of the maxims in which S. Teresa 
expressed her immoveable confidence in God : — * It is not ni 



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She fears Siriy and fears nothing else: 341 

tlie power of tlie whole world to undo what God has done, 
nor cause anything to be left undone which He wills to be 
done.' She feared nothing but to offend Grod. Certain in- 
fluential persons having once threatened, if she would not 
consent to something which they asked, to withdraw their 
assistance from a work in which she was engaged, she answered 
quietly, * In order to obtain your request, you must tell me that 
I shall perhaps sin in refusing it : where there is no fear of sin, 
I fear nothing else.' 

This heroism, springing from the intensity of her love of 
God, was at no time more gloriously manifested than in her 
last foundation at Burgos, in which, under the pressure of 
sickness and age, she contended with obstacles, seemingly 
insurmountable, with a courage no less invincible than that 
which had impelled her childish steps, just sixty years before, 
to seek martyrdom amongst the Moors. 

The foundation of Burgos had been long contemplated. In 
the year 1557, S. Teresa had been requested by a rehgious of 
the Society of Jesus, to found a house in that city, the capital 
of Old Castile, and about twelve leagues distant from Pa- 
lencia. A devout and noble lady of the place, named Catha- 
rine of Tolosa, the widowed mother of seven children, four of 
-whom had already entered the reform, and all of whom, together 
with herself, eventually consecrated themselves to Grod in 
religion, generously offered a sufficient endowment for the 
house. The troubles which then agitated the reform ren- 
dered it impossible at that time to undertake the work pro- 
posed ; and we have seen how, even when peace was restored, 
S. Teresa shrank, for a time, from attempting either this 
foundation or that of Palencia. We have seen also how a 
word from our Lord dispelled the cloud which hung over her. 

Two daughters of Dofia Catharine of Tolosa received the 
religious habit at Palencia, and S. Teresa then gave to their 
mother, who brought them thither, a promise that, as soon as 
the foundation of Soria should be concluded, she would pro- 
ceed at once to Burgos. 

The consent of the Archbishop, who was a native of Avila, 
ftnd who had just been translated from the Bishopric of the 
Canaries to the Archdiocese of Burgos, had been obtained at' 



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342 Life of 8. Teresa, 

S. Teresa's request, by lier MthM Mend the Bishop of 
Palenda. The Archbishop's reply to his application had been 
most gracions. 'He wotdd grant it,* he said, *with all his 
heart ; ' ' For even when he was Bishop of the Canaries,' says 
S. Teresa, * he had desired to have a monastery of our Order, 
knowing well how fervently onr Lord is served by our sisters : 
he also said that he had seen one of onr monasteries in the 
place where he was bom, and that he knew me welL The 
Bishop accordingly told me I need not wait for a written 
license, for that his Grrace highly approved the nndertaking ; 
and that as the Oonncil of Trent does not state that the Hcense 
must be in writing, I might consider the matter as already 
approved and settled by his verbal consent. 

* The Archbishop wrote to me, assmdng me that he heartily 
desired that I shonld come to Bnrgos. At the same time he 
wrote to the Bishop of Palencia, placing the management of 
the afiair in his hands, and informing him that it was abso- 
lutely necessary to obtain the consent of the city of Burgos. 
His advice was that I should go thither, and try first to obtain 
this consent, the refnsal of which, however, would in no way 
prevent him granting us leave. He said that he gave this advice 
because having been at Avila at the time of the foundation of 
the monastery of S. Joseph, he remembered that great uproar 
and opposition had taken place there, and that, therefore, he 
wished to prevent the like from happening again ; adding, 
that in case of the consent of the ciiy being refdsed, the con- 
vent must be endowed. 

' The Bishop of Palencia naturally considered the matter 
settled, and, accordingly, sent me word that I should go to 
Burgos as soon as possible. But I thought I perceived some 
want of courage in the Archbishop ; and when I wrote to him, 
I thanked his Grace for the favour which he had done me, but 
at the same time I intimated that I thought it better to make 
the foundation without the consent of the city, than against 
it, which might raise some opposition to his Grace. 

* I seemed to foresee that we could rely but little on the 
Archbishop, in case we shoxQd meet with any opposition to our 
procuring the license. I also foresaw difficulties on account 
of the different opinions which usually arise on such matters. 



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Dona Catharine de Toloaa. 343 

I therefore wrote to the Bishop of Palencia, begging him to let 
things rest for the present, winter being close at hand, and 
my infirmities so great that I should hardly be able to endure 
the cold of Burgos. 

* I did not allude to my doubts about the Archbishop, be- 
cause the Bishop had been already displeased by his making 
difficulties after having formerly displayed such goodwill in the 
matter ; and I did not wish to cause any disagreement between 
friends. I therefore left Soria for Avila, little thinking then 
that I should so soon go to Burgos ; my presence in the 
monastery of S. Joseph at Avila being very necessary at that 
time.' 

The work of the foundation of Burgos was meanwhile ad- 
vancing in other hands. * There lived, ' says S. Teresa, ' in the 
city of Burgos, a devout widow, named Catharine de Tolosa, a 
native of Biscay ; to recount her virtues of penance, prayer, and 
almsdeeds, her charity, prudence, and courage, woxQd take 
too long a time. Some four years ago she had placed two 
daughters in our monastery at Valladolid, waiting to place 
two others in that of Palencia, as soon as it should be founded, 
and I received them from her hands before I left that city. 
All the four succeeded well (having been educated by such a 
mother) ; indeed, they seemed to me to be so many angels ; 
she gave them good portions, as she is exceedingly wealthy, 
and no less liberal than rich. When we were in Palencia, we 
considered the Archbishop's license as certain, so that there 
seemed no occasion to take any further precautions ; accord- 
ingly I requested the lady to look out for a hired house, in 
order to establish the convent, and to have a grate and a turn 
put up at my expense, without intending her to be at any 
expense herself. She desired this foundation so much, that 
she acutely felt any delay ; so after I had returned to Avila, 
then thinking, as I say, nothing about the matter, she was 
not idle, and thinking nothing was wanting but the consent of 
the city, she endeavoured to procure it without saying a word 
to anyone. She managed the matter so well, that the license 
was obtained from the magistrates and sent to the Archbishop 
in writing. Dona Catharine, when she had taken the first 
steps in the business, wrote to tell me how it was going on 



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344 Life of S. Teresa. 

but I took it for a joke, knowing with what difficnlty poor 
monasteries without endowment are admitted, and because I 
neither knew nor suspected that she would pledge herself as 
she did. 

' One day within the Octave of S. Martin, I was recommend- 
ing the matter to our Lord, and thinking what I should do 
if the license were granted, since it appeared impossible for 
me to go to Burgos with so many infirmities, which are always 
increased by cold, the weather being then very severe. It 
seemed to me rashness to imdertake such a long journey, 
having but just returned from one so rough as that from 
Soria ; nor did I believe the Father Provincial would let me go. 
So I began to think that the Prioress of Palencia might go 
instead, for, everything being made smooth, there seemed to be 
no prospect of much difficulty. While I was thus musing, and 
quite determined not to go, our Lord spoke these words to me 
whereby I understood that leave had been granted: — *'Do not 
regard this cold, for I am the True Heat : the devil employs 
all his power to hinder this foundation ; use your power for 
My sake that it may be accomplished, and neglect not to go 
in person, for you will be of great service." 

'On hearing these words I altered my mind; for thougli 
nature sometimes shows repugnance in difficult undertakings, 
yet never have I lost my resolution to suffer for this great 
God ; and I always beseech Him not to notice these feelings 
of weakness, but to command me whatever He shall please, 
since, by His assistance, I shall not fail to do it. There was 
then deep snow, but that which discouraged me most was my 
want of health ; for if I had had that, it appeared as if I could 
despise every difficulty. This, my great infirmity, often af- 
flicted me in this foundation. The cold was afterwards so little 
(at least that which I suffered), that truly I felt it no more 
than I had done at Toledo.. Our Lord, who Mthfdlly kept 
His word in this matter, had given me to understand that I 
should meet with great opposition, and I knew not from, whom 
nor whence, for Catharine de Tolosa told me she had secured 
the house iu which she lived for us, and the city was favourable, 
as was also the Archbishop ; and hence I could not imagine 
whence the opposition would come which the devils were to 



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Letter to her Nephew. 345 

raise, for I never liad tlie least doubt but that tbe words I 
beard were from God. He, bowever, gives greater ligbt to 
superiors ; for wben I wrote on tbe subject to our Father Pro- 
vincial, be did not hinder me from going, but asked me if I 
bad tbe Archbishop's Hcense in writing. I told him that they 
had written to me from Burgos, tiiat the matter had been 
settled with him, that leave had been granted by the city, and 
that as tbe Archbishop had given bis approval on that con- 
dition, his sanction could not be doubted. 

' The Father Provincial wished to accompany us to this 
foundation, partly because he was not then occupied, having 
finished preagbing the Advent, partly because he had to visit 
Soria, which he had not seen since its foundation, and partly 
in order to take care of me on the journey, for the season was 
extremely cold, and I was old and infirm, and he thought my 
life still of some Httle importance.' 

The holy Mother was accompanied also by her beloved 
Teresita. Several of her letters about this time express a 
tender anxiety concerning the health of this cherished child. 

* I think,' she writes to F. Gracian, 'that I must take my 
little Teresa with me, and the doctor thinks I shall do wisely. 
She grieves so bitterly at the thought of my departure, that I 
do not think it right to leave her. Her heart is sad ; and if 
anything were to happen, I do not know what she would do.' 

It would seem as if the child's loving heart had been over- 
shadowed by a presentiment of that separation, the approach 
of which had certainly been revealed to S. Teresa. A few 
days afterwards she writes again — 

' My niece Teresita is already better ; I think we may now 
feel easy about her.' 

To Teresita' s brother Laurence she writes, a few days after- 
wards, of her great desire to be professed, adding : * Do you 
know who is my greatest consolation? Our httle Sister 
Teresa of Jesus. She is already a woman formed, and grows 
daily in excellence. You may well follow her counsels. The 
letter which she has written to you rejoices my heart. It is 
truly God who speaks by her, and she faithfully practises all 
she says. May that God uphold her with His hand ! She is 
an occasion of edification to us all ; and to all her other merits, 



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346 Life of 8. Teresa. 

she unites snch sonnd sense aa will render her capable of any 
work for God. Do not feil to write to her, for she is very 
much neglected in her solitade. When I remember all the 
affection which her father bore her, and his tender care for 
her, it grieves me to see that nobody thinks of her now. 
Don Francis, indeed, loves her well, but this is all that he can 
do.' 

In the same letter S. Teresa congratulates her nephew 
Lanrence on his marriage, and asks assistance for the convent 
of S. Joseph's at Avila, and for her sister Jane d'Ahnmada, 
then straggling with great pecuniary difficnlties. 

' The only one,' she says, ' who wants no money seems to 
be myself. Only pray to GU)d that He wonld accomplish His 
Holy Will in me, and make great Saints of yon all. Every- 
thing else qnickly passes away Remember, my son, 

that as yon bear the name of so good a father, yon are bound 
to follow his example.' 

The journey to Burgos was one of great difficulty, and even 
danger. 

' The company of our Father Provincial was certainly,' says 
S. Teresa, * a special Providence of Grod ; for the roads were in 
such a state on account of the heavy rains, that it was quite ne- 
cessary for him and his companion to go forward and examine 
by which way we could pass, and to help to pull the waggons 
out of the ruts, especially between Palencia and Burgos, where 
it required great courage to go forward. But the truth is, 
our Lord had told me we might go, and bade me not to fear, 
for He would be with us, though I did not then mention this 
to our Father Provincial ; but it consoled me in all the great 
afflictions and dangers which befel us, and especially in the 
passage near Burgos called the Bridges, where the water had 
overflowed so much, and in so many places, that the bridges 
could not be seen, nor could we tell whither we were going, for 
everything around seemed to be water, and very deep it was 
on both sides. 

' Indeed, it seemed great rashness to pass that way, and 
especially with the waggons, for, had they swerved ever so 
little on either side, they would have been lost ; and one of 
them was on the point of being swallowed up. We had, 



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PerUoua Journey to Burgos. 347 

indeed, taken a guide from an inn that was near, wlio knew 
this passage ; still the danger was imminent. And we had 
great difficulties as to onr night's lodging, for we conld not 
make the nsnal day's jonmey on account of the badness of 
the roads. The waggons often stuck in the mire, so that we 
were obliged to take the horses from one to pull out another. 
Our fathers had to arrange all this ; and their trouble was the 
greater, as we chanced to meet with young drivers who were 
very careless. But the company of the Father Provincial 
was a great comfort, for he took care of everything ; and he 
was also so cheerfrl, that nothing seemed to trouble him, and 
what would have seemed great to another appeared little to 
him; but at the Bridges even he seemed afraid. And who 
would not have feared on entering into a world of waters 
without a path, or without a boat ? Though our Lord had 
strengthened me, yet I could not help feeling afraid : what 
then must my companions have felt ? We were eight in all ; 
two who were to return with me, five who were to remain at 
Burgos (four being choir-nuns, and one a lay sister). They 
all went to confession before passing the bridges, and having 
asked my blessing, went on repeating the Creed. In order to 
comfort them, I showed no fear, but spoke cheerfully to them 
thus : " Courage, my daughters ; what greater happiness can 
you wish, than, if need be, here to become matryrs for the love 
of our Lord ? Let me alone, for I wiU go first ; and if I be 
drowned, I earnestly beseech you not to pass on, but return 
back to the inn." It pleased our Lord, that by my going first, 
I secured a passage for the rest. 

'I had a violent sore throat, which attacked me on my 
journey to Valladolid; nor could I shake off the fever : so that 
I was in great suffering, which made me less sensible than I 
should otherwise have been of the dangers of this journey. 
The malady has continued tiU now, which is the end of June ; 
and though not so violent, yet it is very painful. All were 
well pleased when the danger was passed, and took pleasure 
in looking back upon it afterwards. Suffering through obe- 
dience is a great and beautiful thing, especially when practised 
as it is by these nuns. 

' By this terrible road we at length reached Burgos. The 



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348 Life of S. Teresa. 

Father Provincial wished us first to visit a holy cmcifix, which 
is held in great veneration in that citj, to recommend the 
foundation to onr Lord, and also to wait for night&U, for it 
was yet too early to enter Bnrgos. It was on a Friday, 
January 26, being the day afber the Conversion of S. PanL 
We had determined to open the house immediately, and I had 
letters with me from many eminent persons, begging their 
Mends and relations to assist us ; and so they did, for on ihe 
following day they all came to see, as also the magistrates of the 
city, who told us they in no way regretted having granted "die 
license, but were exceedingly rejoiced at our coming, desiring 
to know in what way they could serve me. As our only fear 
had been with regard to the city, we now considered every- 
thing settled, and, under cover of the darkness and the heavy 
rain, we reached the house of the good Catharine de Tolosa 
without observation. We had intended to acquaint the Arch- 
bishop immediately of our arrival, iu order that the first Mass 
might be said as soon as possible, as I was accustomed to do 
in most places ; but the heavy rain prevented us from doing 
so here. That night we rested very well, being most kindly 
entertained by that holy lady ; but having stood by a great 
fire to dry our clothes, though the chimney was large, I 
became so ill, that the next morning I could not lifb up my 
head: so my bed was brought close to a window, before which 
a curtain was hung ; and I spoke, though with great difficulty, 
to those whom I was obliged to see on business through a 
grille fixed in the window. 

' Early in the morning the Father Provincial went to ask the 
Archbishop's blessing, thinking there was nothing else to be 
done. He found him so much changed, and so greatly dis- 
pleased at my coming, as if it had been without his leave, and 
he had never been consulted on the matter. He told the 
farther how exceedingly angry he was with me. And yet he 
admitted that he had commanded me to come, but said he only 
meant that I should come alone to settle the business with him, 
not that I should come with so many nuns. Gk)d deliver us 
from the displeasure the Archbishop fell into when he was told 
that the business had already been settled with the city, as h© 
had requested himself, and that nothing more remained to 



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Displeasure of the Archbishop. 349 

be done, for that tlie Bishop of Palencia had told me that 
nothing farther was necessary, believing that the Archbishop 
desired the foundation, and ^mt the only doubt was as to the 
consent of the city. All that we said, however, was of Kttle 
use. But it was plainly God's will that the house should be 
founded, for, as his Grace said afterwards, had we informed 
him of our coming at first, he would have forbidden it. 

' At last he dismissed the Father Provincial with this answer, 
that on no account would he grant us leave unless we had a 
revenue and a house of our own, and that it would be better 
for us to return. The roads were indeed excellent, and the 
weather beautiM for another journey ! Oh ! my Lord, how 
certain is he to be repaid with a great affiction who does Thee 
some service ! and what a precious reward it is to those who 
truly love Thee, if we could only understand its real value ! 
But we did not wish for it just then. The Archbishop told us 
also, that the money which was to purchase a house and serve 
as an endowment must not be taken from, any portions which 
might be brought in by the religious. Now an endowment 
could not be obtained in any other way, times being as they 
were. Still I was confident that all was for the best, and that 
these were impediments put in the way by the devil in order 
to prevent the foundation, which God would not fail to prosper. 

* The Provincial returned very cheerful, for he was not at all 
disturbed by the Archbishop's answer, Qod so ordaining, that 
hie might not reprove me for not having procured the Hcense 
in writing, as he had advised me to do. One of our Mends 
advised us to ask the Archbishop's leave for Mass to be said 
in the house, in order to avoid our going through the streets, 
which were very dirty, in our sandals. The house in which 
we were had a very good convenient hall, which for more than 
ten years had been used by the Society of Jesus as a church, 
when they first came to Burgos : we accordingly considered 
that this place would do very well for us till we should have 
a house of our own, but the Archbishop could never be per- 
suaded to allow us to hear Mass in it, though two Canons begged 
of his Grace to grant us this &vour. All that we could obtain 
from him was, that when we should have a revenue we might 
make a foundation there till a house should be purchased; 



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350 Life of S. Teresa. 

and tliat moreover we mnst give security that we would pur- 
chase one and would remove thither. We soon obtained 
security, and Catharine de Tolosa was ready to answer for the 
endowment. 

' More than three weeks were thus spent ; and in tlie mean 
time we never heard Mass except on Festivals very early in 
the morning, and I waa very ill aU the time with a burning 
fever. But Catharine was so kind to us, that she entertamed 
us all for a month in her own house, as if she had been the 
mother of us all. We were placed in an apartment by our- 
selves where we could be quiet and recollected. 

' The Father Provincial and his companions lodged in a house 
of one of his Mends, named Doctor Manso, who was Canon 
of the Cathedral. Our good Father was greatly disturbed at 
all these delays, and yet he did not like to leave us. 

* The endowment and security having been settled, the Arch- 
bishop said the documents must be given to his secretary, who 
would inmiediately arrange the business. The devil did not 
faQ to interfere herein ; for after we had considered everything 
and thought there was no farther obstacle, and almost a month 
had been spent in prevailing on the Archbishop to be content 
with what had been done, the secretary sent me a note, saying, 
that leave would not be granted until we had a house of our 
own ; that the Archbishop did not wish us to make a founda- 
tion where we were, because the place was damp and the street 
noisy : he raised I know not how many difficxdties about the 
endowment, which, he said, was not sufficiently secure (as if the 
business had only then begun), although it had been in agita- 
tion for more than a month. When the Father Provincial 
heard this, he was much displeased, and so were we aU ; for, 
to purchase a site for a monastery every one knew required 
time. He was also grieved to see us obhged to go out to hear 
Mass, for (though the church was not a great distance, and 
we heard Mass in a chapel where no one could see us), botib 
to his Beverence and to ourselves, it was the greatest trial we 
had to endure. 

' At this time we had all but determined to return home. 
But I could not endure this thought, when I remembered 
what our Lord had said to me^ viz. That I should lalxmr for 



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Great Patience and Perfection of Dona Catharvne. 351 

* 
Sis sake ; and so I felt assured that tlie work would be 
accomplislied ; and aliould have felt no fdrther trouble about 
it, but that the sadness of our Father Provincial troubled me, 
and I was sorry he had come with us. Being in this aflOiiction, 
and my companions in still greater, though their trouble did 
not disturb me so much as that of our Father, our Lord said 
these words to me, one day when I was in prayer — " Now, 
Teresa, be firm.*' I immediately endeavoured more earnestly 
to persuade the Father Provincial to depart and leave us (and 
His Majesty had already put the thought into his mind), for 
it was now Lent, and he was engaged to preach. He and 
some Mends prevailed on certain persons to give us some 
rooms in the hospital of the Conception, where the most 
Blessed Sacrament was reserved, and where also Mass was said 
every day. . . . The hospital was at a great distance from. 
Dona Catharine's house ; but she came to see us almost daily, 
and sent us everything we wanted. She had much to suffer 
for her kindness, for people spread all manner of reports 
against her, which, had she not been a most courageous soul, 
would have been sufficient to make her give up everything. 
It troubled me much to see what she suffered, because, although 
she generally concealed it, yet at other times she was unable 
to do so, especially when it touched her conscience. So great 
was her perfection, that, under all her great provocations, she 
was never heard to utter any word offensive to God. They 
said, she would go to hell ; and that, having children, it was 
wonderftil how she could act as she did. She did everything 
by the advice of learned and spiritual persons ; for even though 
she had desired to do otherwise, I would not, for anything in 
the world, have allowed her to do a thing which she ought 
not to have done, to bring about the foundation of a thousand 
monasteries, far less for the sake of one. She answered all 
with such prudence, and with such patience, that it appeared 
evident God had taught her the art of satisfying some, and of 
bearing with others, and that He gave her courage to endure 
everything. 

* After the departure of the Father Provincial I felt more at 
ease, for, as I have said, his affliction was my greatest trouble. 
He leffc directions with me to purchase a house — ^a thing very 



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352 Life of S. Teresa. 

difficnlt to effect, for hitherto none could be found to snit ns. 
Our Mends all agreed not to speak a word' on the subject to 
the Archbishop until we should have a house of our own. 
His Grace always said he desired this foundation more eamestij 
than any one else, and I believe it, for he is a good Christian, 
who would say nothing but the truth. In his actions, however, 
he did not manifest such a desire, because he required things 
which were impossible according to our means* All this was 
but a scheme of the devil, to prevent the foundation. But, 
Lord ! how plainly do we see Thou art All-powerftd ! The same 
means which he took to ruin our work, were used by Thee for 
its accomplishment. May Thy name be for ever blessed 1 ' 

At last, on the vigil of S. Joseph, a suitable house was found ; 
and while the holy Mother was considering about the purchase 
of it, our Lord said to her, ' Why do you stay for money ? ' 
The sisters had earnestly begged S. Joseph to give them a 
house before his Feast, and their prayer was granted. 

' It was evident,' says S. Teresa, ' that our Lord had kept 
this house for Himself, for we found almost everything ready 
titted for us. When I saw how everything was, as it were, 
made for us, it seemed to me a dream that all had been 
accomplished so quickly. Oh ! how well has our Lord repaid 
us for all we suffered, by bringing us to such a delightful 
place ! — ^for so it is with respect to the garden, the prospect, 
and the water. May He be for ever blessed ! Am en. 

* The Archbishop was immediately informed of what had 
passed, and was much pleased that we had succeeded so weU, 
thinking that his pertinacity had been the cause of it ; and so 
it had. I wrote to tell his Grace how much pleased I was 
that he was satisfied, and that I would make haste to fit up 
the house, that so he might grant me all the favours I wanted. 
Having sent this letter, I made haste to the house, having 
had an intimation that our entrance might be delayed till 
certain papers should be drawn up. We went accordingly, 
though the tenant was in the house (and there was somo 
trouble in getting him out), and took possession of one of tho 
apartments. 

' I was immediately told that the Archbishop was highly 
offended with me for so doing. I endeavoured to pacify hio 



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The Archbishop still refuses his License. 353 

as well as I could ; and being a good man, though sometiines 
angry, his displeasure soon passed away. He was displeased 
also when he heard that we had put up a grate and a turn 
without his leave. I wrote to him, stating I did not wish to act 
independently, but that in religious houses these things were 
necessary ; and that I had not attempted so much as to set up 
a cross, which was the truth. But in spite of all the good-will 
which he expressed towards us, he would not grant us the 
license. He came to see the house, and was much pleased 
with it, expressing great kindness for us, and giving us good 
hope that he would grant the license when certain writings 
should be drawn up, on the part of Catharine de Tolosa. 
Doctor Manso, a friend of our Father Provincial, who was 
very intimate with the Archbishop, watched an opportunity 
to induce him to grant us the license without farther delay, 
for he was much troubled to see us so situated ; because, 
though in the house in which we were there was a chapel, 
the Archbishop would not allow Mass to be said there, so 
on Festivals and Sundays we were obliged for a whole ;month 
to go and hear Mass in a church which, happily, was near at 
hand. There seems to have been no other cause for the 
Archbishop's refusal, except that our Lord wished us to suffer. 
I did not feel this trial so much, but there was a nun who 
trembled, when passing through the streets, with the pain it 
caused her. Oh, how impossible it is to relate how much 
Catharine de Tolosa suffered at that time ! But she bore 
everything with such patience as astonished me ; and she 
was imwearied in her charity to us. She furnished all things 
necessary for the house, such as beds and many other, things, 
for she had plenty of these at home ; and she would rather 
her own house should want something than that we should need 
anything. Some others who have founded monasteries for us 
have given much more wealth, but not one has ever endured 
the tenth part of what she has suffered ; and but for her 
children, she would have given us all she had : and so anxious 
was she to see the foundation accomplished, that whatever 
she did for this object seemed but little to her. 

* When I saw delay upon delay, I wrote to the Bishop of 
Palenoia, begging him to vrrite again to the Archbishop. He 

A A 



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354 Life of S. Terem. 

was exceedingly displeased with his Grace, for he considered 
what the Archbishop did to us as done to himself, and the 
greatest wonder was that the Archbishop never imagined he 
hdd wronged us in anything. The Bishop of Palencia sent 
me an open letter to the Archbishop, which had I given to 
him, would have ruined everything. Accordingly, Dr. Manso, 
who was my confessor and adviser, would not allow me to 
present it ; for though it was very courteous, it told his Grace 
some truths, which, considering the Archbishop's temper, 
would only have made him more angry, for he was already not 
well pleased at some things the Bishop had told him, thougli 
once they were great Mends. He complained to me, that as 
by the death of our Lord those became friends who were 
enemies before, so I had made enemies of those w^ho were 
once friends, the Bishop of Palencia and himself. I answered 
him that thereby he might see what kind of person I was. 
To my thinking, I had acted with the greatest caution, in 
order that they might not fall out with each other. I therefore 
requested the Bishop again, using the best arguments I could 
think of, to write another milder letter to his Grace, repre- 
senting to him the service he might do our Lord thereby. 
He did what I asked, which was no small effort ; for when he 
saw it would be doing God a service and me a kindness (for 
indeed he had always been kind to me), he wrote agaiii, 
though he told me at the same time that nothing which 
he had hitherto done for the Order had cost him so much as 
writing that letter. It proved so effectual, that the Arch- 
bishop at last granted us the license. It came one daj 
when the sisters were feeling more than usually discouraged, 
and Catharine de Tolosa fairly out of heart ; but it seems our 
Lord wished us to be most depressed just at the time wh^ 
He was about to console us ; for I, who had never lost hope, 
felt almost hopeless the evening before. 

'Blessed and praised be His holy Name, for ever and ever! 
Amen. 

' The Archbishop gave Doctor Manso leave to say Mass the 
next day, and to place the Blessed Sacrament in the church ; 
and so he said the first Mass ; high'Mass being celebrated bj 
the Father Prior of S. Paul, who was a Dominican (to which 



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The Foundation at last happily concluded. 355 

Order ours is mucli indebted, as also to the Society of Jesus). 
All our friends were exceedingly glad, and almost the whole 
city likewise, for the people were much grieved to see ns so 
ill treated ; the conduct of the Archbishop seeming to them 
so unjust, that often I was more troubled at what I heard 
against him, than at what I suffered from him. The joy of 
the good Catharine de Tolosa and of all the sisters was so 
great as to excite devotion in me, and I said to our Lord, 
" What do these servants of Thine desire, but to serve Thee 
and to become prisoners for Thy sake ? '* No one who has not 
experienced it can understand the pleasure which we feel 
when, in a new foundation, we find ourselves in an enclosure 
which no secular can enter ; for however much we may love 
them, it is a far greater pleasure to ub to be alone with God. 
As fishes which have been drawn out of a river cannot live 
except they be thrown in again, those souls who are accustomed 
to quench their thirst in the pure waters of their Spouse, pant 
and faint when they are drawn out by the nets of the world, and 
cannot truly^hve till they return to their native element. This 
I observed in all the sisters ; and I know by experience that 
those nuns who desire to go abroad among seculars, or to 
converse much with them, have either never found that living 
water of which our Lca^d spoke to the Samaritan woman, or 
their Spouse has hid Himself from them ; aoid that most justly, 
since they are not content with Him alone. This, I fear, arises 
from one of two causes: either because they^have not embraced 
their state solely for God, or because, after they have entered 
it, they do not appreciate the great favour which God has 
bestowed upon them in choosing them f(H^ Himself, and de- 
livering them from being subject to a mortal man who too 
often brings them to a premature death ; and God grant he 
may not also cause the death of their souls ! Oh ! my Spouse, 
true God and true Man, is such a favour as this to be under- 
valued by us ? Let us thank Hun, my sisters, for what He 
has done for us, and never let us be tired of praising so great 
a King and Lord, Who has prepared for us a kingdom that 
will never pass away, to reward us for these slight and passing 
sufferings, and those, too, accompanied by a thousand consola- 
tions. May He be blessed for ever I Amen,' 

▲ ▲ 2 



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356 Life of 8. Teresa. 



CHAPTER XXV n. 

1582. 

P0IOn)ATI0ir AT BXTRGOS — 8. lEBESA LEAVES BTJBGOS TO BE- 

TUEN TO AV TT.A — ^HER FOREENOWIiEDOE OP HER DEATH 

LAST LETTEB TO P. GRACLAET PBOM VALLADOLTD — ^AKBIYES AT 
MEDINA, AND AT THE DESIRE OP P. ANTONT OP JESVS RELIK- 
QTJISHES HER INTENTION OP PROCEEDING TO AVILA AKD 
TURNS ASIDE TO ALVA — HER LAST SICKNESS — ^HER DEATH, 
PRECEDED AND POLLOWED BY MIRACLES — BURIAL AJTD 
CANONIZATION. 

After the happy concltLsion of the foundation of Burgos, the 
new convent was threatened vnth destruction by the sudden 
swelling of the rapid river Alanzor, on which the city is 
built. S. Teresa was ill at the time, and the peril is thus 
described by her tender nurse, Anne of S. Bartholomew : — 

' I remember that our holy Mother was suffering one day 
from great faintness, and I could get nothing for her but a 
mouthfal of bread steeped in water. Our house wbs built 
just outside the city by the side of the river, which had so far 
overflowed its banks, that no one could get at us to bring us 
any assistance, nor could we go out to seek it. The waters 
raged with such violence that the house, which was very old, 
shook as if it were about to fall. Our Mother's cell was the 
worst in the house ; you could see the stars through the roof, 
and the cold, which was most acute iu that *city, pierced 
through the crevices of the broken walls. The river had 
swelled to such a degree, that the waters reached the first 
floor of the house. We carried the Blessed Sacrament up- 
stairs,* and recited the Litanies continually, expecting every 
moment to be swallowed up. We remained in this great peril 
vrithout being able to get any rest, or to take the smallest 



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Perils by Water. 357 

mouthftJ of food, because all our little store was buried 
beneath the waters. Our trouble was so great, that we never 
thought of getting anything for our Mother to eat. At last 
she said to me : " My child, I am fainting ; see if you can find 
me a little bread, if it be but a single mouthfiil." My heart 
ached to hear her. At last one of the novices waded waist- 
deep in the water, and got us a loaf of bread ; and a piece of 
this was all we could give our Saint in her urgent need. Our 
destruction would have been inevitable, but that our Lord 
sent two men to our aid. They swam to the house, and diving 
under the water, broke open the doors to let it out of the 
rooms. It lefb such a quantity of stones behind it as filled 
more than eight carts. Our holy Mother's room shook as if 
it must fall, and the cold, as I said, was so intense, that we 
took our two coverlets, and put one over and the other under 
her in the bed — a thing she would never have permitted if she 
had been aware of it. I stayed near her, and when shjB called 
me I pretended that I had just risen, and she said to me, 
" My child, you have come very quickly." ' 

It was the belief of the Archbishop and of many others in 
the city, that it had been saved from destruction by the pre- 
sence of S. Teresa. 

The holy Mother was now anxious to return to Avila, and 
yet reluctant to leave her daughters at Burgos unprovided 
with subjects, or with temporal support, for, in considera- 
tion for the fiimily difficulties of Dona Catharine of Tolosa, 
who had treated them with such noble generosity, they had 
formally renounced their claim to the endowment which she 
had made in their favour, reserving only the portions of her 
three daughters. One day, after Commxmion, our Lord tran- 
quillised the fears of His servant by these words : * Why dost 
thou doubt and fear ? This is all provided for. Thou mayst 
depart in peace.' 

In obedience to these words, S. Teresa left Burgos in the 
beginning of August 1582. On the 3rd of that month she 
arrived at Palencia, whence she proceeded to Valladolid. 
From that place she writes, on September 1, to F. Qracian, 
who suddenly, and to her regret, had left Castile for Anda- 
lusia. This is her last letter to him, and perhaps the presenti- 



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358 Life of 8. Teresa. 

ment that they were not to meet again on earth throws a shade 
of sadness over it. She had been grieved also by hearing 
hiTn blamed ; ' a thing,' she says in one of her former letters, 

* which I cannot bear.* It is remarkable that the very accn- 
sation, which was afterwards brought against him by his 
enemies, of acting without counsel, and keeping those capable 
of advising him at a distance, is noticed here. 

* Jesus. 

* May the grace of the Holy Spirit be with your Reverence ! 

* My Father, — The pleasure of often hearing from you, great 
as it is, cannot make up to me for your absence, though I 
have heard with much joy that you are well, and that the air 
of Seville agrees with you. God grant that your health may 
improve more and more ! I have received all your letters. 
The reasons which determined you to go do not seem to me 
sufficient. You might have arranged all that was necessary 
here. It would have been but two months longer for the 
monasteries of Andalusia to wait, and in that time you might 
have regulated everything relating to our houses in Castile. 
I know not why, but I am so much grieved at your departure 
in these circumstances, that I have no heart to write to you. 
Therefore I have not written to you before ; nor should I write 

to you to-day, were I not absolutely obliged to do so 

My niece Teresa is well ; but what was her grief when she 
learned that you were not coming !' (probably to her profession) : 

* we took care to keep it from her until now. For one reason I 
am glad of it, that she may learn how little right we have to 
depend upon anything but Grod. This reflection has not been 
without its use to myself. I sent you, Reverend Father, a letter 
which F. Antony of Jesus has written to me. He is friendly 
with me again, and indeed he has always been so in heart; 
and if he wiU but communicate with me, all will go well. And 
even though he should feel some displeasure against you and 
me, this will be no reason for sending another to Rome in his 
place * (on the affairs of the Order). ' I am surprised that you 
should^ave thought of such a thing, and no less so that you 
should think of estabHshing a house at Rome, when you have 
not subjects enough for your convents in this country. The 



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Her last Letter to F. Oradan. 359 

Ibbsence of E. l^icolas, now at Rome, is a great loss to yon. 
It seems to me impossible tliat yon can do everything alone. 
F. John Cnevas, with whom I have spoken on the snbject 
several times, said so to me the other day. He has the greatest 
esteem for yon, and the most ardent desire that yon shonld 
succeed in your office of Provincial. I was quite touched by 
his attachment to yon. He added that yon were acting 
against certain regulations, which prescribe that, in the ab- 
sence of his companion, the Father Provincial shall choose 
another : I am not sure whether he did not say, with the con- 
sent of the Priors and of the Province. Moses, continued he, 
chose — I do not remember how many men he said — ^to govern 
the people of Israel under him. I represented to him that 
you had no one whom you could choose, and that you had 
hardly Superiors enough for your monasteries. He replied 
that this office was of far greater importance. Since my 
arrival in this place I have been told that your Reverence is 
accused of not liking to have persons of merit and capacity 
near you. Though I am persuaded that you have no thought 
of the kind, I think it best, before the meeting of the Chapter, 
to give you warning of what is said, that you may be on your 
guard, lest you do anything which may give occasion to such 
a suspicion. For the love of God be careful on this point, and, 
above all, take care how you preach in Andalusia. I have 
never liked you to stay long in that country. What you have 
told me of the persecutions which some have suffered there, 
have so much increased my fear that the like may befall you, 
that I cease not to pray to God not to suffer such a misfortune 
to happen in my days. You say well that the devil never 
sleeps, and we ought always to be on our guard against his 
devices.' 

The Saint goes on to speak of a matter which had given 
bar great uneasiness with regard to the convent of Salamanca, 
the Prioress there having set her heart upon the purchase 
of a new house, which, in S. Teresa's judgment, was a very 
imprudent step. 

' The affair of Salamanca has cost me many anxious moments. 
On account of Teresa's profession, I cannot go thither at pre- 
sent, for I could not take her with me, far less could I leavQ 



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^ -i 'r ^ r< 



2iT Ti Tis's: usaoL. nt 

•^T«r X. '^^lifr JUftL U9BL i^lilHifit 

k -unLc ton ^ft-T^ j[L mn: nf Ji 
z M-' TT*^ y ' ;t! tut !*niziBKi«. ssic jsif^inns? 



bv-koBi!;! 



br kill 



Il - f -.iirtn — ^Titt iirajKir-* of h^esl iieK^ns- ^isim tcm, gmi 
1^ r &. 3aiii.T iint£± Tu 11 3iMr iiT" jTiET iJitnanp. thonglil 

I-T'^ ItniTL T-ZU. TTTti'rT i rr ^jjlC JTlt. «?«• W*iZ. jyod thai tkc Iff 
C ^^^="111? fcT'^rt* "VTIL 7 .IL TjrlC j^ "*-»"? I^ISS JOST Waldi my 
JUST^TTt 3UtlTt im£ HUT* I Itkl^TeOOT^ ^ TOUT lecttfs. 

TTir^ ""-ir^r^ -rxiia. DPierainnf^ jnt iC' r*:* do soc seem to me 

TwiS^ziaiL y TL TTuric ixirr* ssTtaxs^ t^l that was secesEHT 

M^ 2iL^^ itoBL no Tino EfeODtiis loDger for tk 

lE *Tirswm«ifc i: nr-^x. and ia tliat tone Toa migiit 

i:i~t -^ ^ ?wT^ r i^£rr:.T mr ryfagiiig to cmr lioiises in Caedk. 

1 mza vw i^-r ▼'if inr: I ml »:• ttt^.-^. gnered at jxmr departoR 

n "iiifnt r!ir:TiimssKiiafi&. iii*s I Laxt no beart to wiite to too. 

TTittr^i! irt I h^vi urn ¥r-:.u eL ic tob be&me ; nor should I wiitt 

T. j-.o. i.-a*7, va?t I Hill *i6«c»h:teh- oii'liged to do so. . . 

JL^ 2;it*r* TiT^sii i vfcl : tet what was her grirf when 

ifacTiii'I ~Ttw- jnt w^irt zizti ccaiiing !' (probablT to her piofiesskm): 

—m* i.t.it sic« x kifi« 3 ^cisa her until now. For one ^ea^* 

•Mt £-jMC £lf 3. i2i^ ^it xoiT leant liow little right we ha > 

A!*:KSii i;:«:iL «Ljsli=tr hd God This reflectioii has not . 

wTU^.-tt3 3»i«fr*:2rjse5i£ laentyou, B^verendFa ' 

wi.i;«x F. -ixMrx df Jens hm written to me. I : 

w-u. 3!W «c&=u «s>d indeed he ha£ ^^ so in L^ 

jaii - nt ▼i^ tEt oomnmiucate wftL me, ux^ ,, t*^ go weU- Aii«^ 

^TflEL Ui:c;i:^ he ilionld feel some dknlaigirmn^sMi^goii '•Ml 

-wn*. ^ tV|s wul he no leaaon 

..-ctheafiinof. 

^ilbsTV t^ooght 

s^i:>cjd ihciik of 



^^ last Lah^ 4 ^ 

- ^- ^-S X""' ^P^blel:* ^r' "" " ^t loss to 
- «®veraj7,- ^^^'^ with wW /? *^ <i« everv+y^ ^<'°- 
. «3tee^ J^^^- «^d «> to ltr/>« spoken T^S^ '^°"«- 

J^ Sf ? ^""^ office of S^.'^"^* desi« tS ?^*^*"«* 
s^«* -rt^ z.tir ^« added tirv''^*'*^"«^-ib^ 

^*«»"dlTr a7 °^® ^hom you conM V'^P^sented to him Ik^ 

^HH|^||^^,^^^OU s^weU ii>at the ae. _ ' 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^g^n^ t9 ^ on onr siiirTr. «„. 




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360 Life of S. Teresa. 

ber here. I have, therefore, hired the house for a year longer, 
in order to satisfy the Prioress, in which I hope I may have 
succeeded. This Prioress acts like a tme woman ; she ne- 
gotiates the matter as if yon had given her fuH permission to 
do so, telling F. Augustine, on one hand, that all she does is by 
my direction, and on the other, giving me to understand that 
this &ther is following your orders. There is some snare of 
the devil here which I cannot unravel, for I do not believe her 
to be capable of falsehood. I would willingly believe that her 
great desire to purchase this house has somewhat disturbed 

her judgment Allow me, Father, to give j6u a piece 

of advice ; and that is, never to trust to any women, however 
religious and holy they may be, when you see they have set 
their hearts upon anything; for the desire of carrying their 
point will cause them to invent a hundred bad reasons, which 
they will think unanswerable. It would be far better for our 
sisters of Salamanca to buy a small house, Hke poor people, 
and there establish themselves in humihty, than to run into 
debt to purchase a large one. K anything. Reverend Father, 
would console me for your absence just now, it is that you are 
out of the way of this terrible entanglement, for I would 
rather bear the pain of it alone than share it with you.' 

The last of S. Teresa's letters which remains to us was 
written to the Prioress of Soria^ on September 15, when she 
was just on the point of starting from VaUadolid. * I am so 
overwhelmed with business, that my head turns. May God 
direct it all to His glory ! Amen. ... I can say no more 
now, because we are just setting off for Medina del Campo. 
My health is as usual.' The postscript of this letter mentions 
the Saint's arrival at Medina del Campo, having time only to 
say that the journey from Valladolid had been prosperous. 

S. Teresa had long been aware of her approaching death. 
Bight years before, the year had been revealed to her in which 
she should be released, and she had marked the date down on 
a page of her Breviary. When she left Segovia for the last 
time, she told some of her daughters, as she took leave of 
them, that they should see her no more in this life, and that 
her departure was at hand. The Prioress of Medina, Agnes 



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Her Foreknowledge of her approaching Death. 361 

of Jesus, said to her one day, * Is not your Reverence now 
fifty-nine ? ' and Teresa, liaving answered in the affirmative, 
was heard by a novice present saying to herself, *From 
fifty-nine to sixty-eight.' During her illness afc Salamanca, 
in 1579, she said to the doctor, who was recommending 
various remedies, that she had it in her mind to take no 
more medicine, and being asked why, she replied, *For the 
four years which I have to live it is not worth while.' It is 
said also that she had foretold to the Duchess of Alva that she 
should die in that city. With these thoughts in her mind, we 
may imagine with what tenderness she took leave of the 
religious of the convents which she was now visiting for the 
last time, and how deeply her last counsels sank into their 
hearts. The sisters at Burgos remarked the especial affection 
with which she bade them farewell, and, contrary to her 
custom, allowed them to kiss her hand. The nuns of Val- 
ladolid have happily preserved the words which she addressed 
to them on her departure from that house, three weeks before 
her death. * My daughters, I leave you fall of consolation at 
the perfection of your house, and the poverty and mutual 
charity which I have seen among you. If you continue in 
this course, God will greatly bless you. Let each of you 
endeavour so to live as not to fall short by one hair's breadth 
of anything which belongs to religious perfection. Never go 
through the duties of your state simply from custom, but 
endeavour daily to make heroic acts, and continually to rise 
to higher perfection. Always cherish great desires, for from 
these you will derive great profit, even though you should 
never have an opportunity of carrying them into execution.' 

On her arrival at Medina, the holy Mother found F. Antony 
of Jesus, who was then Vicar Provincial of Castile, waiting for 
her with -a message from the Duchess of Alva, who earnestly 
desired to see her, in order to receive advice and consolation 
under some spiritual trial. S. Teresa, as we have seen, had 
reasons for desiring to proceed at once to Avila, but she 
received the communication from F. Antony as a message from 
our Lord, and perhaps recognised in it the verification of the 
intimation which she had long ago received that she was to 
die at Alva. The Duchess of Alva had sent an easy carriage, 



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362 Life of S. Teresa. 

that the journey might be less distressing to her fiJready* 
enfeebled frame. Bnt it would seem that on the 19th, when 
she left Medina, the Saint had been already attacked by her 
last fatal malady; for on arriving at a little village near 
Pegnaranda, she famted away. * We were obliged to pass the 
night at that place,' says the venerable M. Anne of S. Bar- 
tholomew, ' and the Saint feeling very weak, said to me, " My» 
child, give me something to eat, for I am sinking." I had 
nothing but a few dried figs, which I gave her, and she ate 
one, though she was very feverish. At the same time I gave 
four reals to a woman to get me two eggs at whatever price 
they might be ; but she came back and told me that none were 
to be had even for money. I looked at the Saint, who seemed 
nearly dead, and began to weep. It would be difficult to say 
what I then felt. My heart seemed ready to burst when I 
found I could do nothing to reheve her. But she consoled 
me herself. " Be not grieved, my child,'* said she, " for these 
figs are very good, and more than many poor people can get. 
It is God who permits all these things." ' 

On the following day, the Vigil of S. Matthew, they stopped 
to dine at another miserable village, where nothing could be 
found but some herbs cooked with onions, which the Saint 
could scarcely swallow. She arrived at 6 o'clock at Alva, 
where the Prioress and religious, seeing her state of exhaustion, 
obliged her to go to bed immediately. * God help me, my 
children,' she said; * how weary I feel ! I have not gone to bed 
so early for twenty years past. I bless God that I have come 
to you to be nursed.' 

The physicians who were summoned judged her sickness to 
be mortal. Yet she arose as usual the following 'morning to 
Mass, and having received Holy Communion, she visited eXH 
parts of the convent, and took part in the exercises of the day as 
far as her weakness would allow. She remained in the same 
state for about another week. Though scarcely able to rise 
from weakness and the extremity of the fever, she daQy 
recited her office, and daily received Holy Communion. But 
on the Feast of S. Michael her strength failed her ; she was 
obliged to go to bed after Holy Communion, and asked to be 
placed in an infirmary on another floor, in which there was a 



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Supernatural Voices heard. . 363 

grille looking upon the high altar of the church, whence she 
could hear Mass. 

All her daughters watched over her with affectionate care, 
and most of all her inseparable companion, Anne of S. Bar- 
tholomew, who, in the extremity of her aflfliction, could scarcely 
bear to leave her for a moment. The Saint received all their 
care as if she had been a stranger who had no sort of claim 
upon their charity. The Duchess of Alva came to visit her, 
accounting it a privilege to be allowed to share with the 
religious the office of watching and waiting upon her. 

The Saint passed the whole night between the 1st and 2nd 
October in prayer. In the morning she called Anne of S, 
Bartholomew, and told her plainly that the hour of her depar- 
ture was at hand, and that she had not revealed it to her before 
for fear of afflicting her. 

' Her words,' says the venerable Mother, ' pierced my heart, 
both because she was to die at Alva, because I was to survive 
her whom I loved so well, and who loved me in return, and 
because, seeing her to be so closely united to our Lord, I felt 
great consolation in living so near to her.' 

The nuns then called to mind certain extraordinary pheno- 
mena which they had observed just before her arrival. A 
bright light had been seen over the cell in which she affcer-^ 
wards expired, and in other parts of the convent, and sweet 
but mournful voices heard, the meaning of which they now 
understood but too well. Three days before her death the 
holy Mother sent for F. Antony of Jesus to hear her confession, 
and to strengthen her in her last agony. Having heard her 
confession, the venerable old man besought her earnestly, in 
the presence of her children, that since she was so necessary 
to the Order, she would entreat our Lord to grant her a longer 
life. But she repHed that she was no longer needed in this 
world, and that the time ordained by God for her departure 
was come. 

F. Antony was still in the room when the Saint was suddenly 
seized with a fainting fit, which looked hke death. The phy- 
sician, having been hastily called, ordered that she should 
immediately be removed to the room in which she had been 
before, on account of the cold of that in which she was now 



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364 • Life of 8. Teresa. 

lying. Some medicines were administered, which she took 
with a smile that marked her sense of their inntiHtjr. It 
was then proposed that cupping-glasses should be applied — a 
painM and useless remedy, to which, with her habitual desire 
of suffering, she submitted with joy. 

On October 3, at five o'clock in the evening, she asked to 
receive the Holy Viaticum. She could no longer move except 
by the help of two reHgious. Whilst waiting for the priest to 
bring her the Blessed Sacrament, she joined her hands as if 
in supplication, and thus addressed the weeping nuns, who 
were gathered round her bed : * My daughters and my sisters, 
I beseech you, for the love of Grod, faithfully to observe the rule 
and constitutions of our Order ; to practise them with all per- 
fection, and to be obedient to your superiors. ' Then she added, 

* Forget the bad example which this un&ithfdl religious has 
set you, and forgive it.' She was answered only by sighs and 
tears. 

As soon as the priest entered with the Holy Viaticum, she, 
who had been unable to move in her bed without the help of 
two of her daughters, sprang up with wonderful agility, as if 
she would have thrown herself from it, to adore her present 
God. Her face shone suddenly with so glorious a light, and 
so unearthly a beauty, that those who stood around could 
scarcely endure its lustre, and the love of her ftill heart broke 
forth in words like these : *0 Lord, the hour is come at last that 
I have looked for through all these long, long years. Yes, it is 
time that I should come to Thee. It is time, my Lord and my 
Love, that I should depart henoe. Let Thy most holy wiU be 
done. The end of that weary exile is come at last, and my soul 
rejoices in Thee, Whom it has desired so ardently and so long.' 
Then she thanked God that He had made her a child of the 
Catholic Church, and in the bosom of that Church had given 
her grace to die ; repeating many times, over and over again, 

* After all, O Lord, I am a child of the Church,' — a thought 
which seemed to fill her with unspeakable joy. She then 
besought God to pardon her sins, and asked her companions 
to pray for her, adding that she hoped to be saved by the 
merits of Jesus Christ. 

After the ceremony was over, the religious asked her to 



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She receives Extreme Unction. 365 

speak to them some words of edification; but she simply 
recommended them, from time to time, perfectly to observe 
their rule and constitutions, and faithfully to obey their 
superiors. Her most frequent ejaculations were these words 
of the Miserere : * Sacrificium Deo spiritns cpntribulatus ; cor 
contritum et humiliatnm Deus non despicies. Ne projicias me 
a facie tud^ et Spiritum Sanctum tuum ne auferas a me. Cor 
mundum crea in me, Deus.' The verse which was most fre- 
quently on her lips was the following: *Cor contritum et 
humiliatum Deus non despicies.' She continued repeating 
these words as long as she retained the power of speech. 

At nine o'clock she received the Sacrament of Extreme 
Unction, joining in the Psabn and responding to the Litanies 
and prayers. She then once more thanked Grod for having 
made her a child of the Church. F. Antony of Jesus asked 
her if she would desire to be buried at Avila. This question 
seemed to displease her, and she answered quickly, 'Ought I to 
have a will of my own ? ' adding with touching humility, * Will 
they not give me a comer of earth here ? ' That night was 
passed in intense suffering, and in the continual repetition of 
her accustomed loving ejaculations. On the 4th, which was the 
Festival of S. Francis of Assisi, at about seven o'clock in the 
morning, the Saint tamed upon her left side, and remained in 
that posture with a crucifix grasped tightly in her hand for 
the fourteen remaining hours of her life. Her countenance 
was inflamed, and she seemed absorbed in the loving contem- 
plation of God. 

'For the last two days,' says M. Anne of S. Bartholomew, 
* I had not left her for a single moment, because it was a con- 
solation to her to see me near her bed. I asked the other 
reUgious for anything she wanted. I was in such deep sorrow, 
that,, on the day she died, I could not utter a single word* 
On that day, as I knew she was very fond of having everything 
clean about her, I changed all her linen,* even to her coifs and 
her sleeves, which seemed to please her greatly, for she looked 
at me and smiled, and thanked me by a sign. The beauty of 
that soul was manifested in aU she did. In the evenings 

* Linen was permitted to be worn in time of sickness. 



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366 " Life of S. Teresa. 

P. Antony ordered me to go and taJce some nottrislmient. I 
went; bnt when the Saint saw me leave her cell, she became 
nneasy, looking from one side to another, as if for me. The 
father asked her if she wished me to come back. She made 
a sign of assent, and he sent for me. As soon as she saw me, 
«he smiled, took my hands in hers, and caressed me tenderly, 
and then laid her head in my arms. I held her thns till she 
had breathed her last. I was more dead than alive. She 
seemed so inflamed with the love of her Divine Spouse as to 
be longing for the moment of her deliverance from the prison 
of the body, that she might go to enjoy His sacred Presence. 

* Our Lord is so good, that, seeing how little patience I had 
to endure this cross. He appeared to me standing at the foot 
of the Saint's bed, in the midst of a company of Angels and 
Saints, as if He had come to take her with Hini to Heaven. 
That most glorious vision lasted for about the space of a Credo^ 
and made an ioamediate change in my heart. I asked pardon 
of our Lord for my want of resignation, and said to Him, 
" Now, my God, that I have seen the glory which Thou hast 
prepared for this holy soul, I would not that, for my consola- 
tion. Thou shouldst leave her a moment longer upon earth." 
I had hardly finished these words, when the Saint expired, and 
went like a pure dove to enjoy the vision of her Gt)d.' 

It is related in the acts of her canonization, that at the 
moment of the death of S. Teresa some of the rehgious present 
heard a noise, as of a great number of persons entering her 
cell, and ranging themselves round her bed, and that it was 
their belief that these heavenly visitants were the ten thousand 
martyrs who, in one of her visions, had promised to be present 
at her death and to carry her to Heaven. Another religious 
had seen a white dove issue from her mouth as her holy soul 
departed. 

S. Teresa revealed to Mother Catharine of Jesus, Prioress 
of Veas, that her death had been occasioned rather by an 
ecstasy of love than by any natural cause. Though it took 
place on October 4, her Festival is observed on the 15th, in 
consequence of the suppression of the ten intervening days at 
the reform of the calendar by Pope Gregory XIH. 

The Saint died in the sixty-eighth year of her age, the 



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Beauty and Fragrance of her Body in Death. 367 

forty-eighth of her religions profession, and the twenty-first 
since the establishment of her reform. 

At the moment of her death, her conntenance assumed 
a beauty even greater than it had worn in youth. The 
wrinkles disappeared which had been left on it by age and 
.care, her complexion became white as alabaster, and her limbs 
flexible as those of a child. 

Her body diffused a firagrance which filled the whole con- 
vent, and to which no natural scent could be compared. This 
iragrance had sometimes been perceptible even during life. 
On the following day the body of the Saint, which had been 
neither opened nor embabned, was laid in her rehgious habit on 
a bieif, over which was thrown a covering of cloth of gold ; 
J and thus was verified the vision which she related when, at 
vj the age of twenty, she had recovered from her death-like 
swoon. All the city crowded to the ceremony of her burial. 
^ The holy body, by the desire of Teresa Layz, the foundress of 
^ the convent, who feared that it might one day be removed, was 
* placed in a very deep grave, and covered with chalk, stones, 
and bricks in sufficient quantity to form the foundation of a 
■^^^ solid building. 

f^' The Saint appeared to several persons immediately after her 

^ • decease — amongst others to Catharine of Jesus, foundress of 
^ Veas, at the moment before Communion, telling her she was 
"'*' enjoying the presence of God, and that she would be more useM 
f^' to the Order in Heaven than she had been on earth. She 
e^^ appeared also to the faithfdl Anne of S. Bartholomew, who 
i^, could hardly tear herself away from Alva, to return at the 
'P' comniand of her Superiors to Avila. 

[to^ 'Do as you are commanded, my child,* said the Saint, * and 
0] go to Avila.' 

b^"^ Nine months after the interment of the holy body, which 
still continued to exhale the same miraculous fragrance, the 
}^' Father Provincial determined upon its exhumation, in order 
[ t^ to examine into the state of the precious remains, and to inter 
jjjou? them with greater solemnity. 

Q^ ^ For fear of exciting any opposition on the part of the Duke 
^gojj? and Duchess of Alva, who regarded them as the dearest 
rfjj. treasure of their city, F. Gracian, with one companion, 



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368 Life of 8. Teresa. 

laboured secretly at liis task. After toiHng for four hours, 
they found the body of the Saint, which, though covered with 
the moss and earth which had penetrated through crevices in 
the coffin, lay before them as perfect and as beautiful as on 
the day when it was buried nine months before, and diffiising 
a firagrance which moved all present to tears, at the glory thus 
manifested by our Lord in the relics of His Saints. 

Another miraculous circumstance, which filled all the spec- 
tators with wonder, was the presence of a very sweet oil which 
flowed from the body, and bathed the earth around, and the 
cloths which were brought to absorb it. 

In November 1686, the body of S. Teresa was removed to 
the convent of S. Joseph at Avila, and having been juridically 
examined by the Bishop of that city, on January 1 of the 
following year it was brought back to Alva, where Pope 
Sixtus v., in 1689, decreed that it should remain, though 
portions of her rehcs also enrich various sanctuaries in Spain 
and throughout Christendom. 

Miracles were multipHed at the tomb of the Saint, and the 
publication of her works in 1688, by the care of the Venerable 
Mother Aone of Jesus, increased the unanimous desire felt 
throughout Spain for her canonization. In 1614, Paul V. 
decreed her beatification ; and on March 12, 1622, Gregory XV. 
solemnly inscribed the name of Teresa in the Catalogue of the 
Saints on the same day with that of her countryman, S. 
Isidore, and of her three glorious contemporaries, S, Francis 
Xavier, S. Ignatius, and S. Philip. 

In 1627, Urban Vni. constituted her Patroness of aU Spain, 
and made her Mass and Office of precept, which had hitherto 
been only of devotion. They were raised to the double rite by 
Clement IX. in 1668. 

We have followed from her cradle to her grave, from her 
baptism to her canonization, this chosen vessel of grace — 
Saint, Virgin, and Confessor ; Martyr in will, by the Moorish 
scimitar ; Martyr in deed, by the lingering death of Divine 
love inflicted by the Seraph's lance ; teacher of Doctors, 
Mother of Saints ; the friend of God, the bride of the Lamb, 
the familiar companion of the Three Persons of the Most 



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^ After allf Lord^ I am a Child of the Church.^ 369, 

Holy Trinity ; — and as we stood by her dying bed, listening 
for some glorious revelation from Paradise, some faint echo of 
the song of the hundred and forty-four thousand who foUow- 
the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, what was it that we heard ? 

The penitential breathings of the Miserere ; the humble 
appeal to the heart of Jesus : * After all, Lord, I am a child 
of the Church.' 

As her life Hes traced out before her, in that awfdl perspec- 
tive, which anticipates to the dying the revelation of the 
particular judgment, on what does her failing vision rest ? 

On none of those things which we have gazed upon in 
wondering admiration. Not on the wonderftil works which 
she had wrought for God ; the ^ paradises,^ filled with pure and 
saintly souls, which, at her bidding, had blossomed for Him 
amid the wastes of Carmel; not on the hours of ecstatic 
prayer, in which He had espoused her to Himself; not on the 
marveUous transverberation of her heart, or the more mar- 
vellous vow which followed it ; not on the sick restored by 
her touch to health, or the dead awakened by her prayer ; 
not on the spiritually dead raised to the hfe of grace, or the 
dry bones of a whole Order, prostrate in sloth and tepidiiy, 
w^hich, at her voice, had arisen to stand upon their feet in 
the foil stature and beauty of religious perfection ; not even 
upon the three vows, so fervently made, so faithftdly kept, 
which had nailed her to the Cross with Jesus. 

Farther and deeper still reaches the gaze of the dying 
Christian, till it rests on the font in the parish church at 
Avila, where her soul had been washed in the Blood of Jesus, 
that Fowrdain of the Saviov/r whence had been drawn all the 
streams of the marvellous spiritual hfe by which she had 
made glad the city of God. * Aft5er all, Lord, I am a child of 
the Church.' woman, great is thy faith ! greater still is thy 
liumiliiy ! She pleads for pardon and acceptance in words 
-which belong equally to every baptised infant, who departs 
^th his chrism robe still wet from the hfe-giving font ; to 
every returning penitent, for whom the Angel of penance has 
descended once more, even at the eleventh hour, to stir its 
liealing waters. 

Teresa was, indeed, Saint, Doctor, Confessor, and Martyr, 

B B 



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370 lAfe of 8. Teresa. 

laden with miraculous gifts, iUnminated by marvellons reve- 
lations, in a measure, perhaps, never surpassed, and seldom 
equalled in the hierarchy of the Blessed ; she was, never- 
theless, a woman. What then strengthened her woman's 
heart, and steadied her woman's head, to walk unfaltering 
under such a weight of glory ? Her dying words give us 
the answer. She was *a child of the Ghuroh* In all and 
through all, before all and beneath all, she was a simple, 
humble CathoKc Christian, No foundation but the Kock of 
Peter could have borne so lofty a superstructure, and by no 
hand but the hand of that wise Master-builder has such a 
superstructure ever been raised. 

Fecat of the Patronage of S. Joseph, 1866. 



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NOTES. 



' Mystical Theology is a supernatural, infused, experimental know- 
ledge of God, which not only endows the soul with a vivid illumination 
with regard to God and the things of God, but also unites it to Him, 
and enkindles it with His love. 

'It is called mt/dical, that is to say, secret, hidden, mysterious, 
because it makes known to the soul the most profound and secret 
mysteries which are hidden in God. It is so called, also, because it is 
very difficult, and often even impossible, for a soul to express in mortal 
language the sublime truths thus revealed to it by God. S. Paul tells 
us that he had heard secret words which it is not (/ranted to man to 
idtery 2 Cor. xii. 4. 

' It is supernatural, that is to say, infinitely above the reach of our 
nature, and eternally inaccessible to the natural faculties of our souls. 
Consequently, it comes from God, and not from our own efforts ; it is 
not learnt, but inspired. It is directly infused, not acquired by our 
labour. 

' It is experimental^ that it is to say, it possesses, by an intimate 
union of love, the Divine Object which it contemplates. And this is 
its supreme prerogative which separates it infinitely from all other 
sciences, not excepting even that of dogmatic theology. In fact, 
whatever be the science upon which our intellect is exercised here 
below, it is only by means of a certain light that we discern its object, 
and the properties belonging to it; but the object of that science 
remains external to the mind. It is not thus with mystical theology, 
which not only raises the soul to God who is its Object, but unites it 
intimately with Him. The soul possesses Him, enjoys Him, is pene- 
trated with. His light, and enkindled with His love. 

' The end of mystical theology is to lead the soul by a holy life to 
the union of perfect charity with God. Its last stage is the full 
possession of God in Heaven, the intuitive vision of Him. 

'Mystical theology being a supernatural and infused science, the 
goul cannot rise to it by its own powers, but it may dispose itself 

sb2 



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372 Life of 8. Teresa. 

thereto. It so prepares itself, according to spiritual writers, by an 
absolute death to the life of the senses, in order to live only tiie 
life of the spirit, and by a courageous and faithful perseverance in 
ordinaiy mental prayer. This is the teaching of S. Dionysius, the 
prince of mystical doctors, in his treatise on this subject, addressed to 
S. Timothy : " for thee, my dear son, exercise thyself with persevering 
fervour in mystical contemplation; ascend courageously above the 
senses, above the sphere of intellectual operations, above all that can 
be perceived by sense or thought, above all things that are, and all 
things that are not ; and as far as is permitted to our weakness, you 
shall rise, after aE\ incomprehensible manner, to union with Him who 
is above all being and above all knowledge. By this sincere, spon- 
taneous and absolute abandonment of thyself, and of all things 
besides, thou shalt attain at last to this supernatural light of Divine 
darkness." 

' This teaching of S. Dionysius is confirmed by that of S. Gregory, 
in his book of Morals. " The soul," says that great Pope, " cannot rise 
to contemplation until it has been purified from the desire of human 
glory, and from all satisfaction in carnal concupiscence." 

' When the disposition of the soul is such that it desires nothing 
but God, He magnifies His goodness towards her; and as He has 
raised the regenerate human race to the privilege of the intuitive 
vision of Himself, He vouchsafes to these faithful souls, thus thirsting 
for His love, the foretaste and the first fruits of the life of Heaven. 
He opens to them the sanctuary of mystical theology, which is, as it 
were, the portal nearest to His glory : there, by some rays of ever-in- 
creasing brightness. He prepares by degrees and familiarises them to 
the clear vision of Himself, in which they shall look face to face upon 
His Divinity. By some sparks of His love of still increasing intenaty. 
He gradually enkindles and transforms them till He receives them 
into the Divine furnace of His charity. He prepares them, in short, 
by a union begun on earth for that consunmiate union with Him in 
Heaven, in which He shall be All in all, 

' What are the effects of this infused and experimental knowledge 
of God ? It acts upon the whole soul, illuminating the understanding 
by a supernatural light, and infiaming the heart by the fire of divine 
love. But the brightness of that light and the intensity and ardour 
of that love have different degrees, and these degrees are distinguished 
by different names in mystical theology. It is of these that S. Teresa 
has treated so admirably. 

' Thus much may suffice to give an idea of the subl|me and incom- 
parable excellence of mystical theology. To assign to that science its 
due place, the Catholic has only to remember that it is not only the 



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Notes. 373 

science of the Saints, but that it is also the school of sanctity ; that it 
is at once the fruitful mother of heroic yirtues, and a sublime experi- 
menty a divine apprenticeship of the intuitiye vision of Qod, a be- 
ginning and a foretaste of eternal beatitude. Then, in union with all 
the Bublimest intellects and greatest teachers, and with all the Saints 
of the Church he will bow reverently before mystical theology as the 
Queen of all the sciences/ Note by P. Bouix to his translation of 
the Life of S. Teresa, 

B 

The works of S. Teresa which remain to us are the following : — 

The second Book of her LifCf written between the years 1562 and 
1566, by the desire of one of her confessors, F. Qarcia of Toledo, of the 
Order of S. Dominic. In this narrative she has probably incorporated 
the first history of her life, written in 1561 and 1562, by the command 
of F. Ibanez, no portion of which remains. The Additions to her Life 
relate various signal graces conferred on the Saint from 1570 to 1579. 

Hie Way' of Perfection^ written between 1562 and 1566. 

The Book of the Foundations, begun by the command of our Divine 
Lord Himself, in 1573, and finished in 1582. 

The Interior Castle, written in 1577 by the command of Don 
Alonzo Velasquez, Canon of Toledo, afterwards Bishop of Osma and 
Archbishop of Compostella. 

The Conceptions of Divine Love, on certain words of the Book of 
Canticles, written in 1577 or 1578. A few chapters, previously copied 
by some other hand, alone remain of this work, which was burnt by 
the Saint in obedience to one of her confessors, who made ample 
amends to the Church for the loss of so rich a treasure by the act of 
heroic humility and obedience elicited by his ill-advised command. 

Exclamations of a Soul to her God, written in 1579. 

Constitutions of the Beform, 

Admonitions to her Beliffious. 

Method of Visiting the Convents of Discaked Nuns, 

Various Hymns, called in Spanish Glosa, 

Letters, ranging from 1560 to 1582. 



C 

The following particulars exhibit the pedigree of the Houses of 
English Teresians traced to our wonderful Saint herself. The 
venerable Mother Anne of Jesus, whom S. Teresa on first beholding 



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374 Life of S. Teresa. 

recognised by a prophetic instinct as her coadjutiix in the great woik 
of the reform of Mount Carmel^ twenty-two years after the death of 
the Saint; left Spain with fiye other religious to found houses of the 
Order in France. The yenerable Mother Anne of S. Bartholomew, 
the constant companion of S. Teresa in all her foundations, accom- 
panied these holy adventurers. After establishing in that country 
several convents of the Reform, Anne of Jesus and Anne of S. Bar- 
tholomew, with a few other sisters, pressed forward into the Low 
Countries for the same purpose, in which they succeeded beyond 
their expectations. In 1619 Mother Anne of Jesus was prioress of a 
convent in Brussels, and Mother Anne of S. Bartholomew held the 
same office in a convent in Antwerp. This convent is called to this 
day the House of the Spanish Teresians. One of the religious chosen 
for the foundation of this convent, was Anne of the Ascension, an 
BngUshxooman, whose family name was Worsley. Her father, an 
English Catholic gentleman, had accompanied Philip H. into Spain 
and the Low Coimtries, after the death of Queen Mary. This holy 
religious had been most particularly instructed in the spirit of S. 
Teresa by Mother Anne of S. Bartholomew, who loved her very 
tenderly, and took most special care of her during the years spent 
under her guidance, teaching her even the least customs and observ- 
ances of the Order, as the venerable Mother herself had seen them 
practised by S. Teresa. 

In 1619 Lady Mary Lovell, in her zeal for the sanctification of 
her own countrywomen, furnished the means necessary for the foun- 
dation of a House of English Teresians at Antwerp. To this 
foundation was sent Mother Anne of the Ascension, who remained 
prioress for twenty-five years. Under her holy guidance this English 
house became a most flourishing community, many noble and wealthy 
English young ladies took refuge there, from the persecutions and 
troubles at home, in the poverty and peace of CarmeL In 1644 
Mother Anne of the Ascension received as novices, Margaret and 
Ursula Mostyn, whose future sanctity she foretold. Two Founda- 
tions for English Carmelites were made from this House. In 1648 
one was made at Lierre ; in 1678 another was made in Hoogstraet. 
In the Convent of Lierre, Mother Margaret of Jesus (Mostyn) held 
the office of Prioress until her holy death in 1679 at the age of fifty- 
four. Her sister, Mother Ursula of All Saints, was chosen to succeed 
her. She also died in the odour of sanctity in 1700. Under such 
superiors this Convent gained the name of the JReltquary of Saints, 
from the extraordinary sanctity of its inmates, as the lives of the 
sisters written at that time amply testify. 

In 1794 the troubles of the Continent and the lawlessness of the 



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Notes. 375 

Prench Reyolution obliged the religious of the three convents above 
mentioned to take refuge in their own native country. The Car- 
melites from Hoogskaet spent several years in England, and after- 
wards settled at Valognes in France. The religious of the English 
House of Antwerp finally settled at Llanheme in Cornwall. Those 
of the Convent of Lierre had but a few hours' notice of the approach 
of the French. They exhumed the bodies of their venerable Mothers, 
the two Mostyns, and with nothing but these holy relics fled to 
Dunkirk, whence they sailed next morning for England. Their 
church plate, vestments, paintings, books, &c., were all carefully 
preserved by the townspeople, who were greatly distressed at their 
departure. After remaining a few days in London, they were invited 
to St. Helens, Auckland, where they at first settled. Afterwards 
they removed to Cocken Hall, near Dm*ham, where they remained 
for more than twenty years. Finally, in 1830, they removed to their 
present convent at Darlington. 



LORDOir 

rBIMTKD BT BPOTTISWOODI ASD 00. 

HKW-8TBSBT SQUABB 



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BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



LIFE of the CURfi of ARS. (Burns & Lambert.) 

LIFE of S. BERNARD, from the French of the AbbI: 
Eatisbonnb. (Duffy.) 

LIVES of S. ELIZABETH of HUNGARY, S. FRANCIS 
and S. CLARE, S'- ROSALIE and M«>* de LAMOUROUS. 
(BuBNS & Lambebt.) Is, 



In preparatioTiy 

The LIFE of SAINT FRANCIS of SALES. By the 
CuBi of S. SxTLFicB. Translated from the French. Edited 
■with a Preface by His Grace the Archbishop of Wbstminstbr. 
Authorised Translation. 



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WORKS 

BY 

HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER. 



Just published by Messrs. Longicaks and Co. 

The TEMPORAL MISSION of the HOLY GHOST j or, 
Beason and Eevelation. 8«. 6^. 



Jlso, 
THREE LETTERS to ANGLICAN FRIENDS :— 

1. The CEOWN in COUNCIL on the ESSAYS and 

REVIEWS. Second Edition. 1«. 

2. The CONVOCATION and the CROWN in COUNCIL. 

Price 1*. 

3. The WORKINGS of the HOLY SPIRIT in the CHURCH 

of ENGLAND. A Letter to the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D. 
Second Edition. Is, 

The BLESSED SACRAMENT the CENTRE of IMMU- 
TABLE TRUTH. l8. 



Also, 

SERMONS on ECCLESIASTICAL SUBJECTS. (Duffy.) 
Price 6«. 

The LOVE of JESUS to PENITENTS. (Duffy.) 2«. ^, 

The TEMPORAL POWER of the POPE. Second Editio7i. 
(Burns.) 6«. 



Edited by the same Author, 

ESSAYS on RELIGION and LITERATURE. By Members 
of the Academia of the Catholic Religion. (Longmans.) 
Price lOs. ed. 



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Also published by Messrs. Longmams, Gbsrn, and Co. 

In 2 Tols. 8yo. pp. 1,004, 28^. doth, 

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF 

SAIlfT JOHIT OP THE CEOSS 

OF THE OBDER OF 0T7B LADY OF MOTTlTr CABMSL. 

Translated from the Original Spanish 

By DAVID LEWIS, Esq. M.A. 

EDITED BY THB OBLATE FATHEES op SAINT CHARLES. 

With a Preface by His Eminence Cabdikal Wisbmak. 



* The translation of these difficult works has been made with a 
care seldom bestowed upon such books when rendered from a foreign 
language. So simple, so dear, and so thoroughly idiomatic is this 
version, that the reader will never have to read a sentence twice 
from any obscurity of language, however abstruse the subject may 
be. Indeed, he will almost find a difficulty in believing that the 
work is a translation, and has not been written originally, as he 
reads it, in his own tongue.' H. E. Cabd. Wiseman. 

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

' The writings of S. John of the Cross are admirably presented 
to the English reader in these two volumes, which afford us the 
opportunity of making acquaintance with an excellent man. Cer- 
tainly this S. John had a dear, wholesome, practical intellect. His 
writings are remarkable for homely common-sense.' The Rbadsb. 

* A readable translation of the works of one of the ablest of the 
Spanish mystics.' Satubdat Review, 

* The volumes before us supply a want in mystical theology long 
felt. Hitherto there had been no authorised or complete edition of 
the works of this Saint. . . . Most valuable are the works of such & 
man, a *' man after God's own heart," — ^who ranks first amongst 
mystical writers — and doubly valuable in their present dress.' 

Weekly Rboistbb. 



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SAIIQ^T JOHN OF THE CBOSS. 



OpnaoNS or the Pbess — continued. 



'We confidently leave the Tolnmes to speak for themselves as to 
the excellent manner in which the Fathers have fulfilled the trust 
committed to them; merely intimating, in the words of the trans- 
lator, that they have enriched them with copious marginal notes 
and A double index. To the well-known and highly popular pub- 
lishers of the work much credit is likewise due for the admirable 
way in which, as is their usual custom, they have performed their 
part of the work/ Tablet. 

'Very beautiful and full of deep devotional feeling are these two 
volumes, bringing out most wonderfully the hidden mystical meaning 

of Holy Scripture There is hardly a page that has not one 

reference [to Holy Scripture] at the foot, to say nothing of others 
which are unnoted, the index of texts referred to occupying nearly 

five-and-twenty pages The whole is very carefully printed, 

and refiects great credit both on the translator and on the editors ; 
to the latter of whom we are indebted for a copious index, both of 
the contents and passages of Holy Scripture quoted and referred to 
in the text.' Ekolish CHuacmcAK. 

*It is very interesting to observe the number of considerable 
persons who will have had a hand in the completion of this work. . . . 
We have Cardinal Wiseman's emphatic testimony to the truly 

admirable way in which the task has been performed Among 

the many great writers who have treated of njystical theology, 
S. John of the Gross, by common consent, ranks as the first.' 

Dublin Review. 

* We hail with pleaaure the publication of these volumes in our 
mother tongue, and commend tliem to the diligent study of all who 
would see how &r the human mind, bent on heavenly things and 
purified by grace, can penetrate by study and earnest contemplation 
into the riches and mysteries of Divine wisdom. S. John of the 
Cross is perhaps the greatest of our mystic theologians. People 
ordinarily suppose that mystic theology is something hardly to be 
understood, dark and incomprehensible. If they read thescvolumes 
they will be undeceived.' 

Bsownson's Quabteblt Beview. 



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NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION. 

In One Volume, crown 8to. embellished with Portzaits, bs. boond. 

EECOLLECnONS 



OF 



TflE LAST POUR POPES. 

mS EMINENCE CARDINAL WISEMAN. 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

' A pictureeqae book on Borne and its Ecclesiastical Sovereigns by an cdoqnent 
Boman Catholic. Cardinal Wiseman has here treated a spedal sabject with so 
much generality and geniality that his Beoollections will excite no ill-feeling in 
those who are most conscientioiisly opposed to every idea of human infalliUlity 
represented by Papal domination.' Athen^suh. 

* These delightful pages are a record of the favourite impressions received by 
the Author from scenes, persons, and events, interesting to all, bat pre-oninently 
so to Catholics.' Tablet. 

* Among the glories of Borne, these Beoollections are not the least.' 

Dublin Beview. 

* Messrs. Hurst and Blackett have done good service by publishing a newly 
revised and cheaper edition of His Eminence Cardinal Wiseman's " BecoIleotionB 
of the last Four Popes." Such a proceeding sufficiently attests the popularity 
of this production of the illustrious wzito*. The hiatoiical work is of peculiar 
interest to English-speakiDg Catholics, as containing much important infor- 
mation which could proceed from no other pen. It is now within the reach of 
nearly all classes, and although cheap in the ordinary meaning of the term, it 
is got up in a style that reflects the highest credit upon the publishers. The 
portraits are especially good, and this,new edition may be considered particularly 
suitable for a aift Book.' Weekly BsoiansB. 

' This is a new and revised edition of a work upon which criticism has already 
pronounced its judgment. The accomplished Author never f^ to invest with 
interest any subject on whidi he writes or speaks. It is no wonder, then, that 
this book should have commanded the attention, and in many respects elicited 
the approval, of evea those who most widely differ with him in his views of the 
Pontificate, and of the administrative institutions of modem Bome. The new 
edition of the ** Beoollections " is published at, even for this age of cheap litera- 
ture, the remarkably moderate price of 6s. ; though it is a good-sized volume, 
beautifully printed, and illustrated.' Sun. 

* Biography is one of the most interesting departments of literature, but it is 
peculiarly so when derived from personal knowledge, and based on observation. 
The present work, on account both of its subject and its author, is a litorary 
curiosity, and certainly the expectations which may be formed of it will not be 
disappointed. Cardinal Wiseman is one of the most eminent dignitaries of the 
Boman Church, and as such is sure to command a wide audience ; but he is also 
one of the first scholars and ablest writers of the day. In the present work he 
has kept aloof from controversy ; and it must be admitted that on the whole he 
writes in a free and tolerant spMt. His sketches of Vatican life might have 
been penned by Benvenuto Cellini, they are so candid and at the same time so 
graphic. He has done wisely to write his work for all creeds, and it may be 
read by all with equal profit and interest.' Umhed Sebyics Magazenb. 



HURST & BLACKBTT, Publiriiers, 13 Great Marlborough Street. 



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